The Dream Lady
by alloftimeandspacemelodypond
Summary: 1st in the 'Insane Child Of The TARDIS' series. When under attack by the Dream Lord, The TARDIS' releases her heart in humanoid form, The TARDIS' daughter, to help The Doctor; The Dream Lady as she is first known. Innocent and having no idea what is going on, she helps The Doctor, Rory and Amy escape the dream worlds, and manages to survive, so The Doctor will never be alone. 11/OC
1. Amy's Choice

**A/N - This is an idea I've had for a while. It's just a one shot like this, but if anyone really wanted me to, I could carry it on. It's basically what if The TARDIS' heart came out in a humanoid form, but was separate from The TARDIS. Kinda like the Bad Wolf, but not the Bad Wolf. Merry Christmas guys btw! I actually wrote this yesterday but I forgot to upload it as it was my birthday! WOOHOO. I got Doctor Who Series 7 so I'm happy. ALSO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL TONIGHT SO EXCITED! So yeah, enjoy.**

Amy mixed the bowl as it balanced on her swollen pregnant belly. She dipped her finger in the mixture and tasted it, nodding in approval before suddenly gasping, placing the bowl down on the table.

"RORY-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y!" She screamed.

Outside, Rory placed his bike against the front of the house as his ponytail waved slightly in the wind.

"Rory, it's starting!" He heard his wife's screams and bolted inside, knocking the bike over as he went. He rushed into the kitchen and to his wife's side, who was now sitting on a chair with the bowl balancing on her belly, eating the mixture with a wooden spoon.

"Ah. OK, OK..." He began nervously.

"False alarm." Amy shrugged.

"What?"

"False alarm."

"What?"

"Well, I don't know what it feels like. I've never had a baby before." She rolled her eyes, handing the spoon out to him.

"No." Amy said, standing up and thrusting the bowl into Rory's hands.

"I know - leaf blowers." Rory rolled his eyes, putting the bowl onto the table. "Use a rake!"

"No, it's…" They both looked out the window to see the TARDIS materializing into their garden. "I knew. I just knew."

* * *

The Doctor stepped out of The TARDIS, wincing at the sight of the squashed flowers. He looked up at the cottage he'd parked in front of as Rory stepped out.

"Rory." The Doctor cheered nervously, pointing at the man.

"Doctor." Rory nodded as The Doctor briefly looked back at the flowers.

"I've crushed your flowers." He pointed out as he looked back.

"Oh, Amy will kill you."

"Where is she?"

"She'll need a bit longer."

"Whenever you're ready, Amy." The Doctor called towards the house. Within moments, Amy came waddling out and The Doctor cheered. "Oh, wahey! Wahey. You've swallowed a planet." He grinned, placing a hand on her stomach.

"I'm pregnant." She giggled.

"You're huge."

"Yeah, I'm pregnant."

"Look at you. When worlds collide."

"Doctor, I'm pregnant."

"Oh, look at you both. Five years later and you haven't changed a bit." He quickly hugged Amy then looked between the two of them. "Apart from age and size."

"Good to see you, Doctor."

"Are you pregnant?" Amy just shook her head, turning and walking back into the house.

* * *

The three of them walked through the ever silent Leadworth, observing the quaint village.

"Ah, Leadworth." The Doctor nodded. "Vibrant as ever."

"It's Upper Leadworth, actually." Rory said. "We've gone slightly upmarket."

"Where is everyone?"

"This is busy." Amy said, breathing in sharply. "OK, it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people here live well into their 90s."

"Well, don't let that get you down."

She frowned. "It's not getting me down." The three of them sat down on a nearby bench and sat in silence for a while.

"I wanted to see how you were." The Doctor said. "I don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS. This Time Lord's for life. You don't get rid of the Doctor so easily."

"You came here by mistake, didn't you?"

"Yeah, bit of a mistake. But look, what a result. Look at this...bench." He tapped the bench awkwardly. "What a nice bench. What will they think of next? So. What do you do around here to stave off the, you know..."

"Boredom?"

"Self harm."

"We relax..." Rory said. "We live, we listen to the birds."

"Yeah, see, birds. Those are nice." Amy nodded.

"We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days." Rory said as the bird song became louder.

"Oh, blimey." The Doctor groaned, grabbing his head. "My head's a bit, ooh... No, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good...old... days."

* * *

"What?" The Doctor sat bolt up right from the floor of the TARDIS, shaking his head. "No, yes, sorry, what?" He grabbed onto the console and stood up as Amy and Rory appeared next to him. "Oh, you're OK. Oh, thank God. I had a terrible nightmare about you two. That was scary. Don't ask, you don't want to know. You're safe now." He sighed, hugging Amy quickly.

"Oh, OK." Amy nodded.

"That's what counts. Blimey, never dropped off like that before. Well, never, really. I'm getting on a bit, you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you. Now, what's wrong with the console?" He looked at the controls where a red flashing light emerged from somewhere in the console. "Red flashing lights... I bet they mean something."

"Doctor, I also had a kind of dream thing." Rory said.

"Yeah, so did I." Amy agreed.

"Not a nightmare, though, just... we were married." Rory grinned at Amy.

"Yeah, in a little village." The Doctor looked over at them, surprised.

"A sweet little village, and you were pregnant."

"Yeah, I was huge. I was a boat." Amy frowned as The Doctor walked behind Rory, tugging on the hood of his jacket and frowning.

"So you had the same dream, then? Exactly the same dream?"

"Are you calling me a boat?"

"And Doctor, you were visiting." Rory said as The Doctor walked round and tugged at Amy's jacket, looking at her stomach.

"Yeah, yeah, you came to our cottage."

"How can we have the same dream? It doesn't make sense."

"And you had a nightmare about us. What happened to us in the nightmare?"

"It was similar, in some aspects." The Doctor shrugged, walking back towards the console.

"Which aspects?" Rory asked.

"Well, all of them." He said, leaning against the console.

"You had the same dream." Amy said.

"Basically."

"You said it was a nightmare." Rory frowned.

"Did I say nightmare? No. More of a really good...mare. Look, it doesn't matter. We all had some kind of psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track." He babbled on as the birdsong reappeared in their ears. "Forget it, we're back to reality now."

"Doctor, if we're back to reality how come I can still hear birds?" Amy asked nervously.

"Yeah, the same birds. The same ones we heard in the…" Rory began.

* * *

"…dream." Rory jumped back in shock as they all reappeared back in Leadworth." Oh. Sorry. Nodded off, stupid. God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS." The Doctor quickly jumped up as Rory shared a look with Amy. "You had the same dream, didn't you?"

Amy nodded quickly. "Back in the TARDIS. Weren't we just saying the same thing?"

"But we thought this was the dream."

"I think so." Amy said, standing up. "Why do dreams fade so quickly?"

"Doctor, what is going on?" Rory asked as they walked up to the Time Lord.

"Is this because of you? Is this some Time Lord thing because you've shown up again?"

"Listen to me. Trust nothing." The Doctor said urgently. "From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel."

"But we're awake now." Rory insisted.

"You thought you were awake on the TARDIS too."

"But we're home." Amy frowned, looking around the village.

"Yeah. You're home. You're also dreaming. Trouble is, Rory, Amy, which is which? Are we flashing forwards… or backwards? Hold on tight. This is going be a tricky one."

* * *

"This is bad. I don't like this." The Doctor said before giving the console a kick. "Argh! Never use force. You just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, in which case - always use force."

"Shall I run and get the manual?" Amy asked as The Doctor bounded past her and under the stairs to the bottom half of the console.

"I threw it in a supernova." He called back.

"You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?"

"Because I disagreed with it. Stop talking to me when I'm cross."

"OK, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us to dream about the future?" Rory asked.

"If we were dreaming of the future..." The Doctor said, heading back up the stairs.

"Of course we were." Amy said. "We were in Leadworth."

"Upper Leadworth." Rory countered.

"Yeah, and we could still be in Upper Leadworth, dreaming of this. Don't you get it?" The Doctor sighed angrily.

"No, OK, no, this is real. I'm definitely awake now." Amy said.

"And you thought you were awake when you were all elephanty."

"Hey, pregnant." She snapped, pointing a finger at him.

"And you could be giving birth right now. This could be the dream. I told you, trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you. Examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true." He told them as he walked up to the console.

"OK, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside." Rory said.

"With a bow tie-wearing alien." Amy agreed.

"So maybe "what rings true" isn't so simple."

"Valid point." The Doctor nodded before suddenly, the TARDIS powered down, leaving them in darkness apart from the faint glow coming from the console. "It's dead. We're in a dead time machine." He groaned as the birdsong returned in their ears and The TARDIS grew darker. "Remember - this is real, but when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels."

"It is real. I know it's real." Amy nodded. Suddenly, the three of them woke up again, back in Leadworth, on the bench outside the library. "OK. This is the real one, definitely this one." She rubbed her belly. "It's all solid."

"It felt solid in the TARDIS too." The Doctor frowned. "You can't spot a dream while you're having it." He waved his hands in front of his face.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked.

"Looking for motion blur, pixilation. It could be a computer simulation. I don't think so, though."

"Hello, Doctor." A elderly old woman said politely as she walked past them.

"Hi."

"Hello." Rory nodded at her.

The Doctor frowned. "You're a doctor."

"Yeah. And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams."

"A doctor, not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed. How interesting." He frowned again before walking off.

"What is?" Rory asked as he and Amy followed after him.

"Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby. Maybe this is your dream." The Doctor shrugged.

"It's Amy's dream too. Isn't it, Amy?"

"Yes. Course it is, yeah." Amy replied quickly as The Doctor turned back to look at them.

"What's that?" The Doctor asked, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the building behind him.

"Old people's home." Amy frowned as The Doctor looked back at the home to see the residents looking out at them.

"You said everyone here lives to their 90s. There's something here that doesn't make sense." He smirked slightly. "Let's go and poke it with a stick." The Doctor turned and headed off towards the home as Rory followed with a groan.

"Oh. Can we not do the running thing?" Amy asked, waddling after them.

* * *

The Doctor frowned, looking around the living room at all the old people, some were knitting, some reading and some sleeping.

"Oh, hello, Dr Williams." One of the residents nodded at Rory as Mrs Poggit looked up from her reading.

"Hello, Rory, love." She smiled at him.

"Hello, Mrs Poggit. How's your hip?" Rory asked.

"A bit stiff."

"Oh, easy, D-96 compound, plus..." The Doctor began before noticing the old woman's confused stare. "No, you don't have that yet, forget that."

"Who's your friend? A junior doctor?" She asked.

"Yes." Rory replied quickly.

"Can I borrow you? You're the size of my grandson."

The Doctor kneeled in front of her as she pulled a jumper over his head. "Slightly keen to move on. Freak psychic schism to sort out." He leant forward and stared into her eyes, making her sit back, a little stunned. "You're incredibly old, aren't you?" The birdsong filled their ears and they all fell asleep again.

* * *

"OK, I hate this, Doctor." Amy said as the three of them woke up again by the console. "Stop it, because this is definitely real, it's definitely this one. I keep saying that, don't I?" She asked as The Doctor made his way up to the upper level.

"It's bloody cold." Rory muttered.

"The heating's off." The Doctor shrugged.

"The heating's off?"

"Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do."

"Yes, sorry about Mrs Poggit. She's so lovely though."

"Oh, I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you."

"What do you mean, "act"?" Amy asked.

"Everything's off, sensors, core power. We're drifting. The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere." He shook his head and headed back down to the console. "Someone, something, is overriding my controls."

Suddenly, a hologram of a man appeared at the top of the steps. He was short, had a receding hairline and was a little on the heavy side. He was dressed similarly to The Doctor in a tweed jacket, striped shirt and bow tie. Next to him stood a woman, who looked about the same age as Amy and Rory with flaring purple hair that tumbled down to her waist. She wore a tight white tank top with thick straps, a white belt and tight black leather trousers with matching trainers. She had an innocent look on her face, like a child, as she stared at the TARDIS console with awe.

"Well, that took a while." The man scoffed, walking down the steps. "Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm. Him in the bow tie."

"How did you get into my TARDIS? What are you?" The Doctor asked coldly.

"What shall we call me? Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord." The Dream Lord shrugged.

"Nice look."

"This? No, I'm not convinced. Bow ties?"

"And her?" The Doctor asked, nodding at the young woman at the top of the stairs. The Dream Lord glanced back at her before smirking at The Doctor.

"Let's just call her the Dream Lady."

The Doctor frowned, reached into his pocket and took out a yellow ball. With a flick of his wrist he threw it at the girl. She looked up as it bounded against her head, through the Dream Lord's back and behind The Doctor, dropping behind the console.

"Interesting." The Doctor nodded.

"I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord - it's in the name, isn't it? Spooky, not quite there." He disappeared into thin air, reappearing behind The Doctor and making him spin round. "And yet, very much here."

"I'll do the talking, thank you. Amy, want to take a guess at what that is?"

"Um. Dream Lord. He creates dreams." Amy guessed.

"Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks."

"And what about the gooseberry here, does he get a guess?" The Dream Lord, nodding at Rory.

"Listen, mate, if anyone's the gooseberry around here, it's the Doctor." Rory defended weakly.

"There's a delusion I'm not responsible for."

"No, he is. Isn't he, Amy?"

"Oh, Amy, have to sort your men out. Choose, even."

"I have chosen. Of course I've chosen." Amy scoffed before whacking Rory on the chest without taking her eyes away from the Dream Lord. "It's you, stupid."

"Oh, good, thanks." Rory nodded.

"You can't fool me." The Dream Lord said, raising an eyebrow at her. "I've seen your dreams. Some of them twice, Amy. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply or a real face."

"Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?" The Doctor snapped.

"Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground."

"Am I?"

"If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student..." He looked The Doctor up and down. "I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are. Where was I?"

"You were..." Rory began.

The Dream Lord reappeared on the upper level. "I know where I was. So, here's your challenge. Two worlds. Here in the time machine, and there in the village that time forgot. One is real, the other's fake. And just to make it more interesting you're going to face in both worlds a deadly danger. But only one of the dangers is real." Suddenly, something caught The Dream Lord's eye. He looked in the corner of his eye and turned to the young woman next to him, who had been staring innocently at him for a while. "What are you staring at?" He asked. The woman opened her mouth slightly, unsure whether to speak before snapping it shut again. The Dream Lord stared at her in disgust before extending his fingers on one hand slowly, aimed at the floor making the woman wince in pain. Her fists tightened slightly and she gulped, as if she'd never been in pain before and didn't know how to react.

"You're hurting her!" Amy shouted. The Dream Lord snapped his gaze to Amy and the woman stumbled slightly, no longer in pain. She blinked a few times and followed the Dream Lord's gaze. Once again, the woman opened her mouth and blew into the air gently and the sound of The TARDIS' engines filled the room from her mouth. She grinned, slowly looking into the air as if she was watching the sound as it died down.

"Anyway," The Dream Lord began again. "Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep." The Doctor, Amy and Rory began to fall to the floor, asleep. "Oh, or are you waking up?"

* * *

The Doctor woke up in the living room of the old people's home, now empty, to find The Dream Lady standing over him, staring at him innocently.

"Oh, this is bad." He looked up to see The Dream Lord standing on the other side of the room in a doctors jacket, holding an x ray. "This is very, very bad. Look at this X-ray. Your brain is completely see-through. But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."

"Always? What do you mean, always?" Amy asked as The Doctor flopped into Mrs Poggit's chair.

"Now then, the prognosis is this. If you die in the dream you wake up in reality. Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality?"

"What happens?" Rory asked.

"You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality."

"Have you met the Doctor before?" Amy asked. "Do you know him? Doctor, does he?"

"Now don't get jealous." The Dream Lord teased. "He's been around, our boy. Never mind that. You've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two and call me in the morning." He disappeared out of thin air. The Doctor took a few breaths, thinking, when he noticed the Dream Lady still there, looking around the room.

"OK, I don't like him." Rory said.

"Who is he?" Amy asked.

"I don't know. It's a big universe." The Doctor shrugged.

"Why is he doing this?"

"Maybe because he has no physical form. That gets you down after a while, so he's taking it out on folk like us who can touch and eat and feel." He stood up and took off the jumper, throwing it across the room.

"What does he mean, deadly danger?" Rory asked. "Nothing deadly has happened here. A bit of natural wastage, obviously."

"What are you still doing here?" The Doctor asked blankly, looking at the Dream Lady. The Dream Lady snapped her gaze to him, smiling innocently, like she didn't realise there was any danger. She opened her mouth before shutting it again, turning her head slightly and looking at The Doctor. "Have you ever spoken before, because it doesn't look like you have. Now what are you doing here?"

She smiled softly at him and spoke. A golden sort of belled sound filled the room as she spoke, making Amy stare at her in awe as she and Rory listened to the gorgeous sound. The Doctor stared at her, stunned as Rory turned to him.

"What did she say?" Rory asked. The Doctor gulped, staring at her when Amy shaked him slightly at he looked over at Amy and Rory quickly. "Doctor, what did she say?"

"Are you The Doctor?" He replied with a dry mouth.

"What was it, that sound?" Amy asked. "What was that language?"

"Gallifreyan." He whispered, looking back at The Dream Lady who watched him, no clue to what was going on. He walked forward slightly so he was opposite her, looking her up and down. "Yes, I am." He said to her. She nodded slightly, looking him up and down before reaching forward and stroking his fringe gently. She smiled slightly before speaking in Gallifreyan again, gesturing to the three of them. "Uh," The Doctor stuttered, gulping. "We're speaking English." The Dream Lady nodded slightly before standing in silence.

"What's she doing?" Amy whispered.

"I'm switching over languages." The Dream Lady said immediately. She gave herself a small gasp of joy as she realised before grinning at Rory, Amy and The Doctor. "Am I speaking English?" She asked The Doctor.

"Yes." He replied quickly, laughing nervously. "You were speaking Gallifreyan." She smiled at him, nodding. "You can speak Gallifreyan?"

She frowned, "Of course I can. If you can, why couldn't I? They're all gone."

"I know," The Doctor said sadly, thinking of the Time Lords. "If the Dream Lord is who I think he is, are you a rebellion of him? A mutation in this system or-"

"No silly, I don't mean the Time Lords." She giggled. "All the old people, they're all gone." The Doctor suddenly looked around in alarm, noticing the old people all gone. He grabbed the Dream Lady's and ran out of the room. "Is that a bad thing?" She asked as they ran.

* * *

"Why would they leave?" Rory asked as The Doctor watched some children head into the ruins across the village.

"And what did you mean about Mrs Poggit's act?" Amy asked.

"One of my tawdry quirks – sniffing out things that aren't what they seem." The Doctor said. "So come on, let's think. The mechanics of this split we're stuck in... Time asleep matches time in our dream world, unlike in conventional dreams."

"And we're dreaming the same dream at the same time." Rory said.

"Yes, sort of communal trance, very rare, very complicated. I'm sure there's a dream giveaway. But my mind isn't working because this village is so dull! I'm slowing down, like you two have."

Suddenly, Amy grabbed her stomach and shouted out. "Oh. Ow. Really. Ow! It's coming."

"Help her, you're a doctor." The Doctor exclaimed as he and Rory began to panic.

"You're a doctor!" Rory countered.

"It's OK, we're doctors." The Doctor said, squatting down as if to catch the baby. "What do we do?"

"It isn't coming." The Dream Lady said. The Doctor glanced back at The Dream Lady, watching her with a frown.

"It's not coming." Amy said, stopping panicking and sharing a nod with the Dream Lady.

"What?" The Doctor said, standing up and looking back at Amy.

"This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet. So don't you call it dull again, ever. OK?"

"Sorry."

"Yeah." She turned and walked off, heading over to the nearby swing set. The slumped herself down on one swing and The Doctor sat down next to her as Rory and The Dream Lady stood behind them.

"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room."

"I have to be this size, I'm having a baby."

"No, no. The hormones seem real, but no. Is nobody going to mention Rory's ponytail?" He smiled slowly. "You hold him down, I'll cut it off." Amy chuckled.

"This from the man in the bow tie." Rory said.

"Bow ties are cool." He stood up and looked across the village at Mrs Poggit. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs Poggit as a babysitter. What's she doing? What does she want?" The birdsong began ringing through their ears once again.

"Oh, no, here we go." Amy groaned.

* * *

"It's really cold." Rory complained, rubbing his arms. "Have you got any warm clothing?"

"What does it matter if we're cold? We have to know what she is up to. Sorry. Sorry." The Doctor muttered, rubbing his face. "There should be some stuff down there, have a look." The Doctor pointed across the room and Amy and Rory followed his point. The Doctor ducked under the console and pulled out a box full of mechanical gadgets, balancing it on the console as The Dream Lady watched over his shoulder. "You still here?" He muttered, not bothering to look back at her.

"Yes." She replied innocently, not noticing his begrudge.

"I want the other life." Rory said to Amy. "You know, where we're happy and settled and about to have a baby."

"But don't you wonder, if that life is real, then why would we give up all this?" Amy asked. Why would anyone?"

"Because we're going to freeze to death?"

"The Doctor'll fix it." She muttered, throwing Rory a blanket.

"OK. Because we're going to get married?" He asked, wrapping the blanket around Amy.

Amy giggled. "But we can still get married. Some day."

"You don't want to any more? I thought you'd chosen me, not him."

"You are always so insecure."

"You ran off with another man."

"Not in that way."

"It was the night before our wedding."

"We're in a time machine. It's the night before our wedding for as long as we want."

"We have to grow up eventually."

"Says who?" She asked, grabbing some other blankets as they approached the console. The Doctor was fiddling with some gadget made out of kitchen utensils, trying to fix the last piece on with difficulty. Softly, the Dream Lady took it out of his hand, fixed it on before putting it in Rory's hand.

"Ah, Rory, wind." The Doctor said, nodding at the Dream Lady as he handed Amy a wire attached to it. "Amy, could you attach this to the monitor, please."

"I was promised amazing worlds." Rory said. "Instead I get duff central heating and a weird, kitchen wind-up device."

"It's a generator." The Dream Lady told him, smiling.

"Get winding." The Doctor muttered.

"It's not enough." Amy said.

"Rory, wind."

Rory began to wind it. "Why is the Dream Lord picking on you? Why us? And what about her?" He nodded at the Deam Lady. "She may seem innocent, but is she safe? She is the Dream Lady."

"I'm not a Dream Lady." She giggled. "I'm a _heart_." She breathed the last word, smiling at all of them before the scanner began to beep and showed them a starscape.

"Where are we?" Amy asked.

"We're in trouble." The Doctor muttered.

"What is that?" Rory asked, looking at the planet sized ball of ice on the screen.

"A star. A cold star." He ran to the door and pulled it on, letting in a blinding light. "That's why we're freezing. It's not a malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold sun. That's our danger for this version of reality." He slammed the door and looked at the larger screen on the wall.

"This must be the dream. There is no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn." Amy insisted.

"So's this one. It's just burning cold."

"Is that possible?"

"I can't know everything. Why does everybody expect me to, always?" He walked up to the console and sat down with a slump on the captain's chair.

"OK, this is something you haven't seen before. So does that mean this is the dream?" Rory asked.

"I don't know, but there it is, and I'd say we've got about 14 minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem."

"Because you know how to get us out of this?" Rory asked as The Doctor put on a stethoscope.

"Because we'll have frozen to death." The Dream Lady said before looking at Rory's shocked expression. "Is that bad?"

"Then what'll we do?" Amy asked, ignoring the Dream Lady.

"Stay calm." The Doctor said, placing the stethoscope to the console. "Don't get sucked in to it, because this just might be the battle we have to lose."

"Oh, this is so you, isn't it?" Rory asked.

"What?"

"What a weird new star, 14 minutes left to live and only one man to save the day. I just wanted a nice village and a family." Suddenly, the Dream Lord appeared behind The Doctor.

"Oh, dear, Doctor. Dissent in the ranks." The Dream Lord shook his head. "There was an old doctor from Gallifrey, Who ended up throwing his life away, He let down his friends and..." He stopped at the sound of birdsong. "Oh, no, we've run out of time. Don't spend too long there, or you'll catch your death here." He grabbed onto The Dream Lady's wrist who just stared back at him, unbothered as The Doctor tried to grab her, only to be pulled back by the Dream Lord. "And I think I'll keep your little helper this time." As The Doctor, Amy and Rory fell asleep The Dream Lord disappeared, leaving The Dream Lady standing in the console room on her own. She walked up to the console and nodded to herself before yanking wires out from under the console.

* * *

"Ah, it's colder." Amy complained. The Dream Lady ran up the stairs from under the console, running up to them.

"The three of us have to agree, now, which is the dream." The Doctor said.

"It's this, here." Rory said.

"He could be right." Amy shrugged. "The science is all wrong here, burning ice?"

"No, no, no ice can burn, sofas can read, it's a big universe." The Doctor said. "We have to agree which battle to lose. All of us, now."

"OK, which world do you think is real?"

"This one."

"No, the other one!" Rory argued.

"Yeah, but are we disagreeing, or competing?"

"Competing over what?" Amy asked as The Doctor and Rory looked at her before groaning.

The Doctor looked at his watch. "Nine minutes till impact." He said before, looking around the console room, now covered in wires along the floor, over banisters and up stair cases. "What have you been doing?" He asked The Dream Lady.

"With what power we have," She began, hoping she was wording this properly. "I've been trying to steer us away."

"That's brilliant!" The Doctor cheered, looking at the genius wiring she'd done. "Did it work?"

"Ah." She winced slightly. "No."

"What temperature is it?" Amy asked.

"Outside?" The Doctor asked. "Brrrr. How many noughts have you got? Inside? I don't know but I can't feel my feet and... other parts."

"I think all my parts are basically fine." Rory said.

"Stop competing!"

"Can't we call for help?" Rory asked, picking up the phone.

"I tried that!" The Dream Lady said.

"Yeah, the universe is really small - bound to be someone nearby!" The Doctor said sarcastically, taking the phone from Rory, tapping him on the head with it before hanging it up.

"Put these on, all of you." She threw The Doctor and The Dream Lady a blanket with a hole cut out before slipping one over Rory's head.

"Oh, a poncho. The biggest crime against fashion since lederhosen." Rory nodded as The Dream Lady put her poncho on with a frown.

"Here we go!" Amy said, putting on her poncho and looking at The Doctor and Rory. "My boys... my poncho boys." She stood between them as they looked at the monitor on the wall. "If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band."

"We're not going to die." Rory said, watching the star loom closer on the screen.

"No, we're not," The Doctor said, checking his watch. "But our time's running out. If we fall asleep here, we're in trouble." He began to pace the control room. "If we could divide up, then we'd have an active presence in each world, but the Dream Lord is switching us between the worlds. Why, why, what's the logic?"

Suddenly, the Dream Lord appeared along side The Doctor, pacing with him. "Good idea, veggie, let's divide you three up, so I can have a little chat with our lovely companion." He looked over at Amy and The Dream Lady as The Doctor stopped. "Maybe I'll keep them, and you can have Pointy Nose to yourself for all eternity, should you manage to clamber aboard some sort of reality." The birdsong returned, only ringing through Rory and The Doctor's ears.

"Can you hear that?" Rory asked.

"What? No." Amy frowned.

"Amy, don't be scared, we'll be back." The Doctor said as he and Rory fell to the floor, asleep.

"Rory, Doctor, don't leave me."

"Amy, we're going to have fun aren't we?" The Dream Lord grinned.

"No, please, not alone." Amy begged. The Dream Lady bit her lip slightly before taking Amy's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

* * *

"I wish my mother could help." The Dream Lady sighed, holding onto the handle on the scanner. Amy looked up from sitting next to The Doctor and Rory's sleeping bodies.

"How?" Amy asked.

"She could fly us away from here." The Dream Lady sighed, stroking the console. "Shame she's lost all her power."

"Who's your mother?" Amy asked, eyeing her curiously. The Dream Lady looked at her and smiled softly before blowing into the air, the sound of The TARDIS engines filling the room again. "The TARDIS?" Amy stuttered. The Dream Lady gave her a soft nod. "The TARDIS is your mother?" Amy sighed, unsure how to react before looking back down at The Doctor when The Dream Lord appeared behind her.

"Poor Amy." The Dream Lord teased. "He always leaves you, doesn't he? Alone in the dark. Never apologises."

"He doesn't have to." Amy said, walking away towards the jump seat.

"That's good, because he never will. And now he's left you with me. Spooky old, not-to-be-trusted me." He reappeared, sitting on the chair in a red robe that showed a lot of skin. "Anything could happen."

"Who are you and what do you want?" Amy snapped. "The Doctor knows you, but he's not telling me who you are. And he always does. Takes him awhile sometimes, but he tells me. So you're something different."

"Oh, is that who you think you are? The one he trusts?"

"Actually, yes."

The Dream Lord stood up. "The one girl in the universe to whom the Doctor tells everything?"

"Yes."

"So what's his name?" He dissapeared, before reappearing in his tweed, squatting at The Doctor's feet. "Now, which one of these men would you really choose? Look at them." He gestured to Rory and The Doctor. "You ran away with a handsome hero. Would you really give him up for a bumbling country doctor who thinks the only AMY:thing he needs to be interesting is a ponytail?"

"Stop it!"

"But maybe it's better than loving and losing the Doctor." He stood up looking at both men either side of him. "Pick a world and this nightmare will all be over. They'll listen to you. It's you they're waiting for. Amy's men. Amy's choice." He disappeared into thin air. Amy bent over, straightened Rory's poncho and took one last glance at The Doctor before sitting back down on the stairs. The Dream lady began to pull on wires again, trying to find some power when she looked over at Amy and noticed she'd fallen asleep.

"Oh." The Dream Lady whispered. She bounded over to the staircase and pulled Amy's body down, gently laying her in between Rory and The Doctor before resuming her work.

* * *

The console sparked and The Dream Lady jumped back with a yelp. She fell against the jump seat as she noticed The Doctor, Amy and Rory wake up.

"So...you chose this world." The Dream Lord said, towering over them. Well done. You got it right. And with only seconds left. Fair's fair. Let's warm you up." The TARDIS began to regain power, making The Dream Lady sigh with relief as she stood up again. "I hope you've enjoyed your little fictions. It all came out of your imagination, so I'll leave you to ponder on that. I have been defeated. I shall withdraw. Farewell." He disappeared as The Dream Lady ran over to The Doctor and pulled him up, hugging him tightly. The Doctor's arms waved a little, unsure to what was happening before she let go of him and he began to work on the controls of the TARDIS.

"Something happened. I... What happened to me?" Rory asked. "I..." Amy slowly shuffled towards him and hugged him. "Oh. Oh, right. This is good. I am liking this. Was it something I said?" She let go and looked into his eyes. "Can you tell what it was so I can use it in emergencies? And maybe birthdays." The TARDIS started up and the heating turned on, making the snow slowly melt and Amy and Rory to look up.

"What are we doing now?" Amy asked.

"Me, I'm going to blow up the TARDIS." The Doctor shrugged.

"What?" Rory asked.

"Notice how helpful the Dream Lord was? Okay, there was misinformation, red herrings, malice, and I could have done without the limerick, but he was always very keen to make us choose between dream and reality."

"What are you doing?!" Amy demanded.

"Doctor! The Dream Lord conceded. This isn't the dream!" Rory begged.

"Yes, it is!" The Doctor laughed. "Star burning cold. Do me a favour! The Dream Lord has no power over the real world. He was offering us a choice between two dreams."

"How do you know that?" Amy asked.

"Because I know who he is."

"Wait," The Dream Lady put her hand on The Doctor's stopping him pull on the last control. The Doctor looked up and stared into her sparkling blue eyes, now filled with tears. "When you blow us up, the dream will end. I'm part of The TARDIS, and I'll disappear again. There's always one thing Mother wanted to tell her best friend." The Doctor kept his eyes locked with hers, heartbroken, yet confused. The Dream Lady grabbed both lapels of his jacket with one hand and kissed him. The Doctor wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer, and kissed her back before she pulled the lever and The TARDIS blew up.


	2. Totter

"Any questions?" The Doctor asked as Amy and Rory approached him by the console.

"What's that?" Amy asked, looking at the glittering bobbles in The Doctor's hand.

"A speck of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava. Must have been hanging around for ages. Fell in the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state for all of us." He smiled at them and bounded up to the doors, opened them up and blew the pollen into space.

"So that was the Dream Lord then, those little specks?" Rory asked.

"No, no. No. Sorry, wasn't it obvious?" He asked, walking back up to the console and stopping in front of them. "The Dream Lord was me. Psychic pollen, it's a mind parasite. It feeds on everything dark in you. Gives it a voice, turns it against you. I'm 907. It had a lot to go on."

"But why didn't it feed on us, too?" Amy asked.

"Darkness in you pair? It would've starved to death in an instant. I choose my friends with great care. Otherwise I'm stuck with my own company, and you know how that works out."

"What about the Dream Lady?" Rory asked softly. The Doctor breathed in sharply, about to explain when he was interrupted.

"I escaped!" They span round and looked over to the other side of the console by the scanner where the Dream Lady stood as she tied her purple hair into a messy bun. She walked round slightly and grinned at Amy, Rory and The Doctor as they watched her, shocked. "I love it when I do that!"

"Bu, but, but!" The Doctor spluttered, striding up to her so they were nose to nose, although he had to lean down a bit as he was taller than the insane child of his ship. "The TARDIS exploded, the psychic pollen is gone, you can't be here!"

"Well I thought you might like the company." She shrugged.

"The company?!" He asked loudly. "How are you so calm about this, you know better than anyone the universe should be exploding right now, it's impossible, I-" She grabbed him by the bow tie and yanked him forward so their noses squashed together.

"But I'm alive." She whispered, before pulling back but keeping a firm grip on his bow tie as she peered round at Rory and Amy. "Amy, right now a question is about to occur to Rory." Amy turned slightly, glancing at her fiancée. "And seeing as the answer is about to change his life, I think you should give him your full attention." The Dream Lady glanced back at The Doctor. "We'll leave you to it." The Doctor nodded as she let go of him and he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the TARDIS corridors.

...

"You know," The Doctor said as he paced his bedroom. In the middle of the room, against the back wall was a unmade brown bed with matching covers, a fire opposite it and a big brown leather chair next to it. The Doctor paced past the fire as his braces hung off him and his bow tie and tweed jacket discarded onto the chair. "You could do with a name." He stopped in front of the fire and looked at his bed where his ship's daughter lay upside down with her head hanging over the edge, staring at him. "Any thoughts?"

"Totter." She said immediately.

"Totter?" He asked as she flipped herself over and propped herself up on her elbows, staring at him.

"Like Totter Lane." She said quickly. "Susan loved it there. Do you miss Susan? I miss Susan." She added even quicker, to the surprise of The Doctor.

The Doctor blinked at her a few times before resuming pacing across the room. "Totter," He began, slightly nervously. "You do realise-"

"I'm completely insane?" She asked innocently, making The Doctor once again stop in his tracks and stare at her. "Of course I do. I will be for a while, I'm still feeling around the universe inside my head." She shrugged, sitting up and crossing her legs.

"What do you see? Can you feel it like I do?" The Doctor asked, rushing forward and kneeling in front of her, grabbing her hands.

"I have a sister. No, I will have a sister. I used to have a sister." She said quickly, frowning. She looked up at The Doctor and turned her head slightly, watching him with a look of innocence. "Timelines are funny. I can feel the vortex, the whole universe, it's a bit-" She stopped suddenly, wide eyed. "It's making me feel a bit... space sick-" She threw her hand over her mouth as The Doctor squeezed her hand.

"That'll be the space sickness," The Doctor winced. "I thought that might happen." She jumped up off the bed and The Doctor managed to push her slightly as she ran past him into the en suite. He nodded to himself, got up, and slowly made his way into the bathroom. He peered round the door, looking into the pristine white room to find Totter collapsed against the edge of the toilet. He smiled softly and tucked his arms under knees and arms and picked her up before carrying her back into the bedroom and gently lying her on the bed. He gently pushed a strand of her purple hair out of her face before taking of his shirt, throwing it onto the chair and making his way into the bathroom.

...

When The Doctor returned, he glanced over to his bed. Still unmade, he noticed something was different. There was a lump, at the bottom. He slowly made his way over, pulling back the duvet gently to see Totter curled up underneath, asleep with her purple hair flowing everywhere. He pulled it back a little further to see she was dressed in nothing apart from his shirt. He frowned and looked back at the chair to notice it was in fact gone before looking back at her. He groaned inwardly before getting in backwards and laying next to her, wrapping his arm around her waist.

**A/N - So a lot of people wanted me continue this, so I did. Just a bit of fluff here, and a name: Totter. For all of those who haven't seen the first ever episode of Doctor Who, Totter's Lane is basically where everything started off. It's where Susan and The Doctor lived and I always wanted to use it as a name. So yep, enjoy, I should update this with episode rewrites but there will be some drabbles and bits in between. **


	3. The Hungry Earth

"Behold..." The Doctor said cheerfully, throwing open the doors to The TARDIS. "Rio!" The four of them stood in the doorway, looking out at the grey and bleary cemetery.

"Nuh-uh." Amy said as she and Rory stepped out of the TARDIS. Totter furrowed her brow before wrapping her arms around The Doctor's middle and leaning her chin on his shoulder.

"Close." Totter whispered in his ear, placing a kiss to his cheek before pushing past him and stepping out of the TARDIS.

"Not really getting the sunshine carnival vibe." Rory frowned, looking at the scene in front of him.

"No." The Doctor said, stepping out of The TARDIS. "Ooh, feel that, though, what's that?" He asked, jumping on the spot. "Ground feels strange... Just me. Wait... That's weird."

"What's weird?"

"Doctor, stop trying to distract us. We're in the wrong place." Amy laughed as The Doctor bolted round to the front of the church. "Doctor, it's freezing and I've dressed for Rio. We are not stopping here." He reached down and plucked some grass observing it carefully. "Doctor! You listening to me? It's a graveyard! You promised me a beach."

"Blue grass." Totter said aloud, not even bothering to look at The Doctor. Rory frowned as she turned and looked at The Doctor and nodded to herself in confirmation.

"Patches of it all round the graveyard." The Doctor agreed as Totter, Amy and Rory made their way over to him. "So, Earth, 2020-ish, ten years in your future, wrong continent for Rio, I'll admit, but it's not a massive overshoot."

"Why are those people waving at us?" Totter, Rory and The Doctor followed Amy's gaze over to the other side of the valley where a man and a woman were waving at them.

"Can't be." The Doctor said, taking a pair of binoculars out of his inside pocket and looked through them. "It is! It's you two."

"No, we're here." Rory said as The Doctor handed Totter the binoculars. "How can we be up there?!" He asked as Totter peered through them and smiled at the older Amy and Rory.

"Ten years in your future. Come to relive past glories, I'd imagine. Humans, you're so nostalgic." The Doctor smiled fondly as Totter pulled open The Doctor's jacket and put the binoculars away.

"We're still together in ten years?" Amy asked, surprised.

"No need to sound so surprised!" Rory said cheerfully.

"Hey, let's go and talk to them! We can say hi to Future Us! How cool is that?" Amy said, grabbing Rory's arm and beginning to walk off.

"No, best not, really best not." The Doctor said. "These things get complicated very quickly, and-"

"Oh, look!" Totter exclaimed loudly. The Doctor span around in confusion, following her gaze to a big mining facility she'd notcied. "Big mining thing. Oh, I love a big mining thing. See, way better than Rio! Rio doesn't have a big mining thing."

"We're not going to have a look, are we?" Amy asked.

"Let's go and have a look!" Totter cheered, not listening to Amy before bounding down the hill. "Come on, let's see what they're doing." She called back, her purple hair flying back as she ran. Amy gave The Doctor a look as he grinned with excitement.

"My god," She began dryly. "There's two of you." The Doctor grinned at her before following after Totter.

"If he can't get us to Rio, how's he ever going to get us back home?" Rory asked.

"Did you not see, over there? It all works out fine." Amy reassured him.

"After everything we've seen, we just drop back into our old lives, the nurse and the kissogram?"

"I guess."

...

"You know, there's so many things you have to experience yet." The Doctor said as he and Totter walked hand in hand down towards the mining facility. "The Lost Moon of Poosh, the Towers of Darillium, the sun setting in Morroco 2045-"

"Sex." She added casually.

The Doctor stopped in his tracks and stared at her with wide eyes. "S, s... sex?" He squeaked. He cleared his throat and nodded. "Yes, well..."

"I'd have to ask Jack about that sort of thing." She shrugged.

"JACK?!" He said loudly. "No you will not!"

Totter frowned at him, "It's only sex, Doctor." The Doctor stared at her in disbelief, making him realise she was more innocent than he realised, innocent enough to think going to Jack Harkness about it was a clever idea.

"I'm not having _Jack _put his hands," He put his hands either side of her middle, rubbing up and down. "All over you."

"And who would you rather have their hands all over me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

The Doctor opened his mouth to answer when Amy appeared on the hill.

"Doctor?" She asked, eyeing his grasp on Totter. He jumped back, spluttering and wagging his finger at Totter.

"You done that on purpose!" He exclaimed.

Totter smirked. "I didn't do anything!"

He flung his arm back up the hill, "Go and wait for Rory." Totter nodded and walked up the hill, sharing a smirk with Amy as she past the ginger.

...

"Well, that was quick!" Totter yelped, knocking into the side of The TARDIS as the woman appeared out of nowhere. Totter stared at her, wide eyed as Ambrose watched her questioningly when Rory stepped out of The TARDIS. Rory jumped slightly, noticing Ambrose before seeing Totter's shocked expression and remembering that the purple headed, fiery woman had never in fact spoken to anyone outside of The TARDIS. "It's great that you came." Ambrose said with a smile.

"Bit retro." Elliot, a young boy of about 11 or 12 said, appearing from behind his mother. "What is it, portable crime lab?"

"Oh. Er, sort of." Rory nodded.

"Ambrose Northover." Ambrose introduced, shaking Rory's hand. "I was the one who called. I run the meals on wheels for the whole valley. This is my son, Elliot."

"Where's your uniform?" Elliot asked.

"Don't be cheeky, Elliot, he's plain clothes. CID, is it? Anyway, it's over here." She turned and walked off, much to Totter and Rory's surprise. The time travellers shared a look before following after her.

...

"It's a family plot, see." Ambrose explained as the four of them stared down at the empty grave. "My aunt Gladys died six years ago. Her husband, Alun, died a few weeks back. He lived in the house two doors down. There's not many of us left up here now."

"Mum, he doesn't care about that! He wants to know about the dead bodies." Elliot said, rolling his eyes.

"Yes. Sorry. Well, they always wanted to be buried in the same plot, together. But when we went to bury Uncle Alun, Gladys wasn't there. Gone. Body, coffin, everything."

"What?" Rory asked, stunned.

"The mad thing is, on the surface, the grave was untouched. No signs of it having been messed with."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Totter finally stammered.

"Nobody has touched the grave since my aunt was buried. But when they dug it open, the body was gone. How is that possible?"

...

Rory frowned, jumping up and down in the empty grave before looking up at Totter who was sitting up on the surface with her legs dangling over the edge.

"Do you want sugar?" Elliot asked, peering into the grave

"Sorry?" Rory asked.

"In your tea. Mum's asking."

Totter smiled, shaking her head. "No. Just white, both of us, thanks." She said.

"There's only one explanation, as far as I can see." Elliot shrugged.

"What's that, then?" Totter asked.

"The graves eat people. Devour them whole, leaving no trace."

"Not sure about that." Rory said.

"They didn't steal the body from above. They couldn't have got in from the sides. Only other thing is, they get in from underneath."

"Not very likely, though."

"When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"Sherlock Holmes." Totter nodded in approval.

"Got the audiobook. The graves round here eat people." He turned and left. Rory looked up at Totter and shuddered, making her laugh.

...

"Doctor!" Rory shouted as he, Totter, Ambrose and Elliot finally found him, approaching him in the village as he looked at a laptop. "Something weird's going on here, the graves are eating people."

"Energy barricade. Invisible to the naked eye." Totter said immediatley and The Doctor nodded back at her. "I can sense it." She said, looking back briefly at Rory's confused look.

"We can't get out and no-one from the outside world can get in." The Doctor said.

"What?! OK, what about the TARDIS?" Rory asked.

"The what?!" Nasreen, a middle aged woman, said from next to The Doctor.

"No, those energy patterns would play havoc with the circuits." Totter said, shaking her head.

"With a bit of time, maybe, but we've only got nine and a half minutes." The Doctor said.

"Nine and a half minutes to what?" Rory asked.

"We're trapped. And something's burrowing towards the surface." Nasreen said nervously.

"Where's Amy?" Rory asked, looking around.

"Get everyone inside the church!" The Doctor ordered, picking up the laptop. "Rory, I'll get her back."

"What d'you mean, get her back? Where's she gone?" Totter asked.

"She was taken. Into the Earth."

"How?! Why didn't you stop it?!" Rory demanded.

"I tried. I promise, I tried."

"Well, you should've tried harder!"

"I'll find Amy. I'll keep you all safe. I promise. Come on, please. I need you alongside me." He picked up the rest of the equipment and they all ran into the church.

...

"So we can't get out, we can't contact anyone." Ambrose began as they set up all the equipment in the dusty and empty church. "And something, the something that took my husband, is coming up through the Earth."

"Yes. If we move quickly enough, we can be ready." The Doctor said.

"No, stop. This has gone far enough. What is this?"

"He's telling the truth, love." Tony, an older and grey haired man who was also Ambrose's father, said.

"Come on! It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish."

"Look, Ambrose, we saw the Doctor's friend get taken, OK?" Nasreen said desperatley. "You saw the lightning in the sky. I have seen the impossible today, and the only person who's made any sense of it, for me, is the Doctor."

"Him?!"

"Me." The Doctor said.

"Can you get my dad back?" Elliot asked. Everyone turned and looked at The Doctor.

"Yes." He said as he walked up to Ambrose. "But I need you to trust me and do exactly as I say from this second onwards because we're running out of time."

"So tell us what to do." Ambrose said calmly.

"Thank you."

"We have eight minutes to set up a line of defence." Totter called out to everyone. "Bring him every phone, camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find. Every burglar alarm, every movement sensor, every security light. We want the whole area covered with sensors."

...

"Right, we need to be ready for whatever's coming up." The Doctor muttered to Totter as they stared at the scanner, looking as whatever was underground was coming nearer, before turning to Elliot. "I need a map of the village, marking where the cameras are going."

"I can't do the words. I'm dyslexic." Elliot said.

"Oh, that's all right, he can't make a decent meringue." Totter called over, her eyes never leaving the scanner.

"Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot." The Doctor grinned as he ran off before looking at his watch. "6 minutes 40."

"Works in quadrants, every movement sensor and triplight we've got. If anything moves, we'll know." Tony said.

"Good lad!" The Doctor said, slapping him on the back as he ran out of the church. "Look at that!" He said to Elliot as he ran back in a few minutes later, looking at the map the boy was drawing. "Perfect! Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein, it's not stopping you."

"I don't understand what you're going to do." Elliot said.

"Two phase plan." Totter explained, turning from the scanner. "First, the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives."

"Second, if something does arrive, I use this to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices, a pulse which would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe." The Doctor finished.

"Knock 'em out. Cool." Elliot said.

"Lovely place to grow up, round here."

"Suppose. I want to live in a city one day. Soon as I'm old enough, I'll be off."

"I was the same, where I grew up."

"Did you get away?"

"Yeah."

"Do you ever miss it?"

"So much."

"Is it monsters coming? Have you met monsters before?"

"Yeah."

"You scared of them?"

"No! They're scared of me."

"Will you really get my dad back?"

"No question." He said, putting an arm around Totter's waist and turning back to the computer.

"I left my headphones at home." Elliot said, getting up and leaving the church.

"Stay here." The Doctor said, placing a kiss on Totter's head. "Unless we're screaming out in death, keep a watch on that scanner, ok?"

...

"See if we can get a fix." The Doctor ran in as the room shook, running towards Totter and the computer. He quickly began typing, narrowing down the area before the computer sparked and the power went out.

"No power." Tony said.

"It's deliberate."

"What do we do now?" Rory asked as Tony turned on a bright torch.

"Nothing. We've got nothing! They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems."

"Is everyone OK? Is anyone hurt?"

"I'm fine." Nasreen called out.

"I'm good." Tony said.

"Me too." Ambrose said, when there was a sudden loud rumbling.

"Doctor, what was that?" Rory asked.

"It's like the holes at the drill station." Tony said.

"Is this how they happened?" Nasreen asked as The Doctor kneeled then bent over to listen to the ground.

"It's coming through the final layer of Earth." He muttered.

"What is?!" Nasreen asked as The Doctor stood quickly.

"The banging's stopped." Tony said quietly as Ambrose looked round the room.

"Where's Elliot?" She asked. "Has anyone seen Elliot? Did he come in? Was he in when the door was shut? Who counted him back in? Who saw him last?"

"I did." The Doctor said.

"Where is he?"

"He said he was going to get headphones."

"And you let him go? He was out there on his own?" She shouted at him.

Totter blinked a few times. "Is that a bad thing?" She asked Rory. Rory breathed in sharply and nodded quickly.

"Mum! Grandpa Tony! Let me in!" Elliot's voice shouted through as he banged on the doors.

"Elliot!" Ambrose gapsed, trying to pull the door open.

"Let me in."

"He's out there! Help me."

"Open the door! Mum! There's something out here!" Everyone bolted open to the door, trying to yank it open as Elliot's kept shouting through.

"Push, Elliot, push, Elliot!"

"Mum!"

"Hurry up!"

Suddenly, the banging stopped. "Mummy." Elliot said quietly.

"Come on!" Tony shouted as the door swung open and everyone ran out to find Elliot had gone.

"Where is he?" Ambrose shouted, running out. "He was here. He was here! Elliot." She called, running into the graveyard.

"Ambrose, don't go running off." The Doctor shouted.

"Ambrose!" Tony called out, running after her. The Doctor gulped and put his arm around Totter's waist. Suddenly, Ambrose's scream of despair ripped through the graveyard, making Totter wince and snuggle her face into The Doctor's shoulder.

"Get off me!" Totter looked up with a gasp as they heard Ambrose's shouts. The Doctor, Totter and Rory came running towards them to find Tony laying on the ground in pain.

"What happened?" The Doctor asked.

"My dad's hurt." Ambrose said.

"Get him into the church now!"

"Elliot's gone. They've killed him, haven't they?"

"I don't think so. They've taken three people, when they could've just killed them up here. There's still hope, Ambrose. There is always hope."

"Then why've they taken him?" Ambrose cried.

"I don't know. I'll find Elliot, I promise. But first I've gotta stop this attack. Please, get inside the church."

"Come on, Dad." She said, helping her father up and began heading back to the church.

"So, what now?" Rory asked.

...

"Are they what I think they are?" Totter asked quietly as she followed The Doctor round to the basement door to meet Rory after deciding it was best to leave it to them to catch the alien.

The Doctor nodded, "Silurians." He turned to Rory and they headed to the door. "I've met these creatures before, different branch of the species, but all the same... Let's see if our friend's thawed out!"

"Are you sure? By yourself?" Rory asked as they glanced over at the alien in the shadows.

"Very sure." The Doctor nodded.

"But the sting..."

"Venom gland takes at least 24 hours to recharge." He turned to the creature. "Am I right?" He turned back to Rory and Totter. "I know what I'm doing. I'll be fine." Rory left and The Doctor approached the Silurian. Totter took a sharp breath before turning and following after Rory.

...

"You're going to what?!" Rory asked as they all sat in the church.

"I'm going to go down below the surface, to find the rest of the tribe. To talk to them." The Doctor said.

"You're going to negotiate with these aliens?" Ambrose asked.

"They're not aliens! They're Earth...liens! Once known as the Silurian race, or, some would argue, Eocenes, or Homo reptilia. Not monsters, not evil. Well, only as evil as you are. The previous owners of the planet, that's all. Look, from their point of view, you're the invaders. Your drill was threatening their settlement. Now, the creature in the crypt. Her name's Alaya. She's one of their warriors and she's my best bargaining chip. I need her alive. If she lives, so do Elliot and Mo and Amy. Because I will find them. While I'm gone, you four people, in this church, in this corner of planet Earth, you have to be the best of humanity and one Artron energy humanoid." He winked at Totter.

"What if they come back? Shouldn't we be examining this creature, dissecting it, finding its weak points?" Tony asked.

"No dissecting! No examining! We return their hostage, they return ours. Nobody gets harmed. We can land this, together. If you are the best you can be. You are decent, brilliant people. Nobody dies today. Understand?" He took Totter by the arm and dragged her to one side. "Be the best you can be."

"When am I never?" She smirked as he placed a kiss to her head.

...

"You had to come and see me." Alaya hissed as they walked into the basement.

"We are going to keep you safe." Totter said.

"Your tribe are going to give us back our people, in exchange for you." Ambrose said.

"No." Alaya said, walking as far forward as her chains allowed her. "Shall I tell you what's really going to happen, apes? One of you will kill me. My death shall ignite a war. And every stinking ape shall be wiped from the surface of my beloved planet."

"We won't allow that to happen." Tony said firmly.

"I know apes better than you know yourselves. I know which one of you will kill me. Do you?"

**A/N - So yeah, not some of my greatest work but hey ho, it's late and I'm tired! Enjoy and review! :)**


	4. Cold Blood

"Ambrose." Rory said as he and Totter crouched down next to Ambrose in the graveyard.

"You lied. You told us you were the police." Ambrose said bitterly.

"It was a misunderstanding..." Totter said.

"Who are you?" She asked. "You two and the Doctor? Why is this happening to us? What did we ever do?"

"The Doctor'll get your son back, I promise." Rory said firmly. "In the meantime, we take turns guarding the creature."

"So that's it? We sit and wait."

"And then we exchange her for your family. I promise you Ambrose, I'd trust the Doctor with my life. We stick to his plan. We keep that creature safe."

...

"I'm a nurse, you should've told me." Rory said, inspecting the green venom seeping through Tony's shoulder.

"We'll get you to the med bay and find you a cure as soon as The Doctor is back." Totter said, smiling reassuringly at him when suddenly, a scream in the distance ripped through the room.

...

"Ambrose... What've you done?" Tony gasped as Rory and Totter ran over to Alaya laying on the floor in pain.

"She kept taunting me about Mo and Elliot and you." Ambrose gulped.

"We have to be better than this!" Tony exclaimed, taking the taser out of his daughter's hand.

"She wouldn't tell me anything. I thought sooner or later, she'd give in. I would've done. I just... I just want my family back, Dad."

"I'm sorry. How do we help you? Tell us what to do." Rory asked.

"I knew this would come. And soon the war." Alaya hissed.

"You're not dying. I've got so many things to see yet, and you dying is not one of them. I'm not going to let you, not today..." Totter began before Alaya groaned out and slumped further to the floor, dying. Totter opened her mouth, tears rolling down her face, before looking up at Ambrose. "You killed her!" She shouted.

"I didn't know it would go like that, Dad." Ambrose said.

"Oh, my little girl, what have you done?" Tony asked, hugging Ambrose.

"What happens now?"

Suddenly, an buzzing electrical sound filled the room and lights began to flash and an old computer monitor flared to life to show a woman Silurian.

"Who is the ape leader?" Restac asked.

"It's them. How are they doing that?" Ambrose asked. "How do they know that we're in here?" She quickly covered Alaya's body with a sheet.

"Who speaks for the apes?" Restac asked.

"Don't tell them what's happened." Tony told Rory as he stepped forward towards the monitor.

"I speak for the... humans. Some of us, anyway." Rory said.s

"Do you understand who we are?" Restac asked.

"Sort of. A bit. Not really." He said nervously as Totter stepped forward next to him.

"I do." Totter said, trying to keep her nerves at bay.

"We have ape hostages." The view zoomed out to see Amy, The Doctor, Nasreen and Mo tied to pillars.

"Doctor! Amy!" Rory gasped, being pulled back by Totter as he tried to run towards the screen.

"Keep cool." She whispered.

"Mo! Mo, are you OK?" Ambrose asked in panic.

"I'm fine, love!" Mo replied. "I've found Elliot. I'm bringing him home!"

"Amy! I thought I'd lost you!" Rory said in relief.

"What, cos I was sucked into the ground? You're so clingy." Amy laughed back.

"Tony Mack!" Nasreen cheered.

"Having fun down there?" Tony asked.

"Not to interrupt, but just a quick reminder to stay calm." The Doctor interupted.

"Show me Alaya." Restac demanded. "Show me and release her, immediately, unharmed, or we kill your friend… one by one."

"No!" Ambrose shouted.

"Ambrose..." Rory said.

"Steady now, everyone." The Doctor said.

"Ambrose, stop it!" Tony begged as Ambrose struggled out of his grasp.

"Get off me, Dad!" She shouted, moving closer to the screen. "We didn't start this!"

"Let Rory and Totter deal with this Ambrose, eh!" The Doctor said firmly.

"We're not doing what you say any more. Now, give me back my family!"

There was silence and everyone shared their glances. "No. Execute the girl." They moved the camera angle to show the soldiers moving towards Amy.

"No!" Rory shouted, pushing Ambrose out of the way. "No, wait!"

"Rory!" Amy shouted.

"She's not speaking for us!" Totter begged as Amy was pushed to the center of the room in front of the soldiers.

"There's no need for this..." The Doctor said nervously.

"Listen! Listen! Whatever you want... we'll do it!" Rory said.

"Aim." Restac said, making the Silurian guards aim their guns at Amy.

"Amy!"

"Rory!" Amy shouted.

"Don't do this!" The Doctor and Totter begged in unison.

"No!" Rory shouted before the connection went and the screen turned static.

...

"Nothing!" Rory muttered, whacking the computer monitor. "I've got to get down there." He began to walk away when the monitor flashed again and The Doctor reappeared.

"Rory! Hello!" The Doctor cheered, making Rory bolt back in front of the monitor.

"Where's Amy?"

"She's fine, look, here, she is." He moved the camera to show Amy.

"Oh, thank God."

"Keeping you on your toes!" Amy grinned.

"No time to chat." The Doctor said. "Listen, you need to get down here... Go to the drill storeroom, there's a large patch of earth in the middle of the floor. The Silurians are going to send up transport discs to bring you back down using geothermal energy and gravity bubble-technology. It's how they travel and frankly it's pretty cool. Bring Alaya. We hand her over, we can land this after all. All going to work, promise. Got to dash! Hurry up!" The signal went.

"The moment we get down there, everything will fall apart." Tony said.

"We have to return her." Totter said harshly, beggining to leave the room. "They deserve at least that."

...

The Doctor looked up with a smile as he watched Totter and Rory walk in. His face dropped suddenly as he noticed Totter's dark and cold stare. He'd never seen her like it before, she'd always been so happy and innocent, but now...

"Totts?" He asked quietly as she came storming towards him.

"Mum!" Elliot shouted as Ambrose came in, running towards her.

"Rory!" Amy gasped.

"Something's wrong..." The Doctor said as Totter threw her arms around both Amy and The Doctor.

"Doctor, what's he carrying?" Amy asked as Totter let go of them and The Doctor stepped forward as Tony walked in, carrying Alaya's body. "No. Don't do this. Tell me you didn't do this."

"I couldn't get there quick enough." Totter mumbled as Tony layed Alaya's body on the floor. The Doctor squatted down and pulled away to cloth, looked at Alaya's dead face before covering her back up again and glaring up at Tony.

"What did you do?" He asked sternly.

"It was me. I did it." Ambrose said nervously, making Elliot stare at her in confusion.

"Mum?" Elliot mumbled.

"I just wanted you back." She whispered to him as he walked away from her. The Doctor looked back at Totter before walking up to Eldane with pity.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said to Eldane. "I didn't know. You have to believe me, they're better than this."

"This is our planet!" Ambrose shouted.

"We had a chance here." The Doctor snapped back.

"Leave us alone."

The Doctor strided over to her, "In future, when you talk about this, you tell people there was a chance but you were so much less than the best of humanity." He said before a bunch of armed Silurians entered the room with Restac.

"My sister." Restac said, noticing Alaya before pulling back and seeing her dead face. She let out a wail, sending a shiver down Totter's spine before Restac replaced the blanket and looked up at The Doctor. "And you want us to trust these apes, Doctor?"

"One woman." The Doctor said, wagging her finger at Restac. "She was scared for her family. She's not typical."

"I think she is." Restac said, spinning round and looking at Ambrose.

"One person let us down." The Doctor pleaded to Eldane. "But there's a whole race of dazzling, peaceful human beings up there. You were building something, here, come on...an alliance could work."

"It's too late for that, Doctor." Ambrose snapped.

"Why?"

"Our drill is set to start burrowing again in..." She picked up the stopwatch dangling around her neck. "15 minutes."

"What?" Nasreen gasped.

"What choice did I have? They had Elliot." Tony said.

"That's what you were doing?" Totter exclaimed, trying to bolt forward only to be pulled back by Amy.

"Don't do this, don't call their bluff." The Doctor begged.

"Let us go back." Ambrose said. "And you promise to never come to the surface ever again. We'll walk away, leave you alone."

"Execute her!" Restac shouted.

"No!" The Doctor exclaimed, pulling Ambrose out of the way as the Silurians began to shoot. "Everybody, back to the lab! Run!" Totter grabbed Amy and Rory's hands and pulled them out of the exit, ducking as they ran.

"Execute all the apes!"

...

The Doctor soniced the lab doors shut before turning to everyone else.

"Elliot, you and your dad keep your eyes on that screen." The Doctor told Elliot. "Let me know if we get company. Amy," He tossed her the stop watch. "Keep reminding me how much time I haven't got."

"OK, 12 minutes till drill impact." Amy said, looking at the stop watch as The Doctor looked down at Tony sitting down on the floor with Nasreen standing next to him.

"Tony Mack, sweaty forehead, dilated pupils, what're you hiding?" The Doctor asked. Tony opened his shirt to show the green Silurian infection had spread across his chest.

"Tony! What happened?!" Nasreen gasped as The Doctor soniced the infection.

"Alaya's sting." Tony said breathlessly. "She said there's no cure. I'm dying, aren't I?" He asked as The Doctor moved to check his readings on the control panel.

"You're not dying, you're mutating." Totter said, nodding at the screen over The Doctor's shoulder. "How can we stop it? Decontamination program!"

"Might work - don't know." The Doctor said. "Eldane, can you run the program on Tony?"

"Doctor, shedload of those creatures coming our way!" Mo called over from the computer screen. "We're surrounded in here!" He said nervously as Eldance helped Tony into the decontamination chamber.

"So, question is, how we do stop the drill, given we can't get there in time?" He said aloud to everyone, although he was mainly talking to Totter.

"Plus also, how do we get out, given that we're surrounded?" Totter asked before turning to Nasreen. "Nasreen, how d'you feel about an energy pulse, channelled up through the tunnels to the base of the drill?"

"To blow up my life's work?" She exclaimed.

"Yes. Sorry. No nice way of putting that." Totter winced before The Doctor pulled her forward and gave her a quick kiss, grinning.

"You're a genius!" He cheered.

"Right, well, you're going to have to do it before the drill hits the city, in..." Nasreen said, turning to Amy.

"11 minutes, 40 seconds..." Amy called over.

"Yes! Squeaky bum time!" The Doctor said, making Totter frown.

"Yes, but the explosion is going to cave in all the surrounding tunnels so we have to be on the surface by then." Nasreen warned.

"But we can't get past Restac's troops." Rory pointed out.

"I can help with that..." Eldane called over. "Toxic Fumigation - an emergency failsafe meant to protect my species from infection. A warning signal to occupy cryo-chambers. After that, citywide fumigation, by toxic gas. Then the city shuts down."

"You could end up killing your own people." Amy said.

"Only those foolish enough to follow Restac."

"Eldane, are you sure about this?" The Doctor asked.

"My priority is my race's survival. The Earth isn't ready for us to return yet."

"No."

"10 minutes, Doctor." Amy called over.

"But maybe it should be." Totter said, placing her hand on The Doctor's chest to stop his protest. "So here's the deal. Everybody listening? Eldane, you activate shutdown... I'll amend the system, set your alarm for 1,000 years' time." Eldance bustled over to the controls as she spoke. "1,000 years, to sort the planet out. To be ready. Pass it on. As legend, or prophesy, or religion, but somehow, make it known. This planet is to be shared."

"Yeah. I get you." Elliot nodded.

"Nine minutes, seven seconds." Amy called over.

"Yes, fluid controls, my favourite!" The Doctor said, bounding over to the controls next to Eldane. "Energy pulse timed, primed and set. Before we go, energy barricade, need to cancel it out - quickly." He quickly used the sonic on the controls, making the barrier come down.

"There's not much time for us to get from here to the surface, Doctor!" Rory said.

"Ah-ha, super-squeaky bum time! Get ready to run for your lives. Now..."

"But the decontamination program on your friend hasn't started yet." Eldane said. Everyone stopped and looked over at Tony in the chamber.

"Well, go. All of you! Go." Tony ordered.

"No, we're not leaving you here!" Ambrose gasped.

"Granddad!" Elliot cried, running over and hugging him.

"Eight minutes, 10 seconds." Amy called out.

"Now you look after your mum." Tony said to Elliot. "You mustn't blame her. She only did what she thought was right."

"I'm not going to see you again, am I?" Elliot asked.

"I'll be here." He touched his grandson on the chest. "Always. I love you, boy. You be sure he gets home safe!" He said to Ambrose as Mo pulled him back over.

"This is my fault." Ambrose said with regret.

"No, I can't go back up there. I'd be a freak show. The technology down here's my only hope." He hugged his daughter quickly.

"I love you, Dad."

"Go. Go. Come on.. Go on."

"Toxic fumigation initiated." The tannoy announced.

"They're going! We're clear!" Amy grinned, watching on the scanner as Restac and the other Silurians began to back away.

"OK. Everyone follow Nasreen." The Doctor told everyone. "Look for a blue box. Get ready to run." He quickly soniced open the doors as Totter looked back at Eldane.

"I'm sorry." Totter sighed.

"I thought for a moment, our race, and the humans..." Eldane said sadly.

"Yeah. Me too."

"Doctor, Totter! We've got less than six minutes." Amy called over.

"Right you lot, let's go!" Totter called, leading everyone from the room.

...

"In, in, in!" Totter shouted, pushing Mo, Elliot and Ambrose into The TARDIS. "Yes, I know it's big!" She turned back to pull The Doctor, Rory and Amy in when she found them staring at the wall. There, in the wall was the crack from Amy's bedroom.

"Not here. Not now." The Doctor muttered.

"It's getting wider." Totter whispered.

"The crack on my bedroom wall." Amy gulped.

"Some sort of space-time cataclysm. An explosion, maybe. Big enough to put cracks in the universe. But what?" She muttered, walking closer and inspecting the crack.

"Four minutes 50... We have to go!"

"The Angels laughed, when I didn't know. Prisoner Zero knew, everybody knows, except me!" The Doctor said, infuriated.

"Doctor, just leave it."

"But where there's an explosion," She reached into her pocket and pulled out a red pocket. "There's shrapnel." She began to reach into the crack when-

"Totter, you can't put your hand in there!" Rory exclaimed.

Totter looked back with an innocent look. "Why not?" She reached in, wincing as the light got brighter. "I've got something!"

"What is it?" Amy asked as she fell backwards just about keeping her balance, clutching something wrapped in the hankie as it sizzled with heat and energy.

"I don't know." She shrugged, giggling.

"Totter!" Rory exclaimed, pointing as a dying Restac crawled into the tunnel as Totter watched her, slightly stunned.

"She was there, when the gas started... She must've been poisoned." Amy said.

"You!" Restac shouted.

"OK, get in the TARDIS, both of you." The Doctor said.

"You did this." Restac shouted, aiming her gun at Totter

"Totter!" Rory shouted, pushing her out of the way, taking the shot from Restac's gun.

"Rory!" Amy shouted as the three of them bolted to the ground as Rory groaned in pain, not bothering to look back as Restac died metres behind them.

"Rory, can you hear me?" The Doctor asked, sonicing him.

"I don't understand." Rory gasped.

"Shh-shh. Don't talk." Amy said, stroking his face. "Totter, Doctor, is he OK? We have to get him into the TARDIS!"

"We were on the hill. I can't die here."

"Don't say that."

"You're so beautiful... I'm sorry." He gasped before his eyes shut slowly and took his last breath.

"Help him." Amy begged. Totter tapped The Doctor on the arm and they looked as the light slowly drew out of the crack and wrapped around Rory's feet.

"Amy, move away from the light, if it touches you you'll be wiped from history." The Doctor instructed her as he and Totter got up. "Amy, move away now."

"No! I am not leaving him! We have to help him!"

"The light's already around him, we can't help him." Totter said, grabbing her shoulders as tears spilt down her own face.

"I am not leaving him!"

"We have to." The Doctor said.

"No!"

"Sorry!"

"Get off me!"

"Sorry!" Totter kicked open the door as The Doctor picked her up and dragged her inside The TARDIS.

"No!" The Doctor and Totter rushed up to the console as Amy began to run back to the door. The Doctor quickly took out the sonic and soniced the doors locked over his shoulder. "No! No! Let me out, please let me out... I need to get Rory." She looked back at the monitor on the wall, watching Rory's body being engulfed in the light. "That light, if his body's absorbed I'll forget him. He'll never have existed. You can't let that happen." She begged as The Doctor yanked a lever on the console. "What are you doing?" She asked, running up to the console. "Doctor! No! No! No! Doctor, we can't just leave him there!" She sobbed, whacking him.

"Keep him in your mind." The Doctor said, hugging her and sitting her down on the jump seat. "Don't forget him. If you forget him, you'll lose him forever."

"On the Byzantium, I still remembered the Clerics because I am a time traveller, now you said." She sobbed as she reached foward and grabbed onto Totter's arm, crying.

"They weren't part of your world." The Doctor said, gripping onto her head. "This is different...this is your own history changing."

"Don't tell me it's going to be OK. You have to make it OK."

"It's going to be hard, but you can do it, Amy."

"Tell me about Rory." Totter said, trying to stop any more tears pouring out of her eyes as her and The Doctor kneeled down in front of her. "Fantastic Rory, funny Rory, gorgeous Rory. Amy, listen to me. Do exactly as I say. Amy, please. Keep concentrating. You can do this."

"I can't." Amy sobbed.

"You can. You can do it. I can't help you unless you do." The Doctor begged. "Come on. We can still save his memory. Come on, Amy. Please… Come on, Amy, come on. Amy, please. Don't let anything distract you."

"Remember Rory." Totter said calmly, squeezing Amy's hand. "Keep remembering, Rory is only alive in your memory. You must keep hold of him. Don't let anything distract you. Rory still lives in your mind." The TARDIS finished materializing and the three of them fell to the floor as well as the box with Amy's engagement ring. It fell in front of Totter and she stared it in shock as Amy sat up brightly.

"What were you saying?" She asked. The Doctor and Totter looked up and stared at her as Mo and Elliot walked down the stairs.

"I have seen some things today, but this is beyond mad." Mo said.

"Totter!" She looked down at the stopwatch. "Doctor! Five seconds till it all goes up!" They all stared at each other before getting up and running out of The TARDIS.

...

Totter winced slightly, watching the drill site explode as they stood in the graveyard.

"All Nasreen's work just erased." Amy said.

"Good job she's not here to see it. She's going to give Tony hell when they wake up." Mo muttered.

"You could've let those things shoot me. You saved me." Ambrose said quietly to Totter and The Doctor.

"An eye for an eye." The Doctor said. "It's never the way. Now you show your son how wrong you were. How there's another way. You make him the best of humanity... in the way you couldn't be." They both gave her a small smile before turning and leaving.

...

"You're both very quiet." Amy said as she, The Doctor and Totter walked towards The TARDIS. "Oh! Hey! Look!" She turned and looked over at her future self on the other side of the hill. "There I am again! Hello, me!" She turned and waved at herself on the other side of the hill, who was now alone... no Rory.

"Are you OK?" Totter asked.

"I thought I saw someone else there for a second." She blinked a few times before smiling at them both. "I need a holiday. Didn't we talk about Rio?"

"You go in. Just fix this lock, keeps jamming." The Doctor said, unlocking the door.

"You boys and your locksmithery." She smirked before entering the TARDIS. Totter reached into her pocket and handed over the hankercheif nervously. The Doctor eyed it a moment before unwrapping it to reveal a piece of wood, a chunk of The TARDIS. He frowned and held it up in place, before sharing a look with Totter.

...

"So," Amy began, leaning against the console as The Doctor looked at the scanner. "That kiss earlier with Totts-"

"Amelia." The Doctor began warily.

Amy blinked at him before giving a small gasp, "Have you fallen in love with The TARDIS' insane child?" The Doctor looked up at her and just stared for a few moments.

"Go away Pond." Amy looked up to see Totter standing at the top of the stairs. Amy smirked at Totter before turning round and walking up a different set of stairs. Totter slowly made her way down the stairs and made her way towards The Doctor. With a small smile she put her arms around his neck.

"You alright?" The Doctor mumbled.

"Fine." She said with a smile as he kissed her softly.

"Everything will be ok, I promise."

**A/N - I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed reading it. For certain reasons I'm not writing Vincent and The Doctor so I'm skipping straight to The Lodger. Then there will be The Pandorica Opens, The Big Bang and the The Christmas Carol before a new story for Series 6 which I haven't decided the name for yet. I also had a crazy idea, and I don't know if anyone will read it but, would anybody be interested if I rewrote the confidentials for the episodes that Totter is in? Please let me know in the reviews or PM and if there's enough response I may make a start on it. **


	5. The Lodger

The TARDIS door opened and Totter stepped out into the park, looking round with a frown. The Doctor's head peered out. "No, Amy, it's definitely not the fifth moon of Sinda Callista." He called back into The TARDIS. "I think I can see a Ryman's." A blast ran through The TARDIS, knocking The Doctor to the ground. "Amy! Amy!" He shouted as The TARDIS began to dematerialize whilst Totter watched him, laying on the ground.

"Doctor! Totts! It's saying we're on Earth! Essex, Colchester." Amy's voice just about rang through before The TARDIS finally disappeared into thin air.

"Amy! Amy..." The Doctor called half heartedly before groaning and fully slumping to the ground. Totter walked round and turned her head to the side.

"You alright?" She asked innocently. The Doctor just sighed.

* * *

"...I love you!" The Doctor and Totter smiled back innocently, standing on the doorstep as a slightly chubby blonde man stared back at them, clutching a pair of keys.

"Well, that's good, cos we're your new lodgers." Totter replied with a smile as The Doctor took the keys out of the man's hand.

"Do you know," The Doctor said to Totter. "This is going to be easier than I expected!"

"But I only just put the advert up today, I didn't put my address." The man spluttered.

"Well, aren't you lucky we came along? More lucky than you know. Less of a young professional, more of an ancient amateur, but frankly I'm an absolute dream."

"Hang on, mate, I don't know if I want you staying, and give me back those keys, you can't have those!" The man began, flustered.

"Yes, quite right." The Doctor nodded.

"Have some rent." Totter said with a smile, handing him a brown paper bag.

"That's probably quite a lot, isn't it?" The Doctor asked as the man peered into the bag. "Looks like a lot. Is it a lot? I can never tell." He shrugged, following Totter as she pushed past the man and into the house. The man blinked and turned around, shutting the door behind them. "Don't spend it all on sweets. Unless you like sweets. I like sweets. Ooh." He turned and gave the man an air kiss either side of his face. "That's how we greet each other nowadays, isn't it? I'm the Doctor. Well, they call me the Doctor, I don't know why. I call me the Doctor too. Still don't know why." He frowned.

"And I'm Totter." Totter said. "Or you can call me Totts for short if you like. I call myself Totter, they call me Totter." She shrugged. "Then again I picked my name so-"

"Craig Owens." The man interrupted, turning to The Doctor. "The Doctor?"

"Yep." The Doctor nodded. "Who lives upstairs?"

"Just some bloke."

"What does he look like?" Totter asked.

"Normal. He's very quiet." A sudden bang rang through from the floor above. "Usually. Sorry, who are you again? Hello?!" Craig called after The Doctor as he walked into the flat followed by Totter. "Excuse me?" The Doctor walked straight into the corner of the sitting room as Totter perched herself onto the kitchen worktop.

"Ah! I suppose that's...dry rot?" The Doctor asked.

"Or damp. Or mildew."

"Or none of the above." Totter muttered quietly.

"I'll get someone to fix it."

"No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot." The Doctor said quickly. "Call me the Rotmeister. No, I'm the Doctor, don't call me the Rotmeister. This is the most beautiful parlour I have ever seen, you're obviously a man of impeccable taste." He grinned at him before walking back across the room and jumping up onto the countertop next to Totter. "So can we stay Craig?" He asked, putting his arm around Totter. "Me and the wife?" He smirked. "Can we stay, Craig?"

"You haven't even seen the room." Craig said, stunned.

"The room?"

"Your room."

"Our room?" He frowned at Totter who raised an eyebrow at him before realising. "Oh, yes, our room, our room. Take us to our room!"

* * *

"Yeah, this is Mark's old room," Craig said as the three of them walked into the small and basic but cosy room. "He owns the place, moved out about a month ago. An uncle he'd never even heard of died and left a load of money."

"How very convenient." The Doctor said, sitting down on the bed and bouncing on it slighty. "This'll do just right. In fact..." The Doctor said, getting back up as another bang rang through from the floor above. "No time to lose. I'll take it. Ah...you'll want to see our credentials." He took out the psychic paper and kept pulling it behind his back before showing it to Craig again, showing different credentials. "There...National Insurance number... NHS number... References..."

"Is that a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury?" Craig asked in shock as The Doctor stuffed the paper back into his pocket.

"We're his special favourite." The Doctor quickly placed his finger to Craig's lips as he went to speak again. "Are you hungry? I'm hungry." The Doctor shared a nod with Totter and quickly moved his hand away.

"I haven't got anything in." Craig said. The Doctor just pushed past him, and Craig quickly followed after him with Totter.

"Sweetie?" Totter asked as she leaned against the sofa and both her and Craig watched The Doctor raid the fridge. "Can I cook?"

"Don't know. You've never tried." The Doctor shrugged, pulling out a pan and putting it onto the hob before ripping open the ingredients, beginning to cook. "You've got everything I need for an omelette fines herbes! Pour deux! So who's the girl on the fridge?" The Doctor asked, glancing at the picture of Craig on the fridge with a blonde woman.

"My friend. Sophie." Craig said.

"Girlfriend?"

"A friend who is a girl. There's nothing going on."

"Ah, that's completely normal. Works for me."

"We met at work about a year ago at the call centre."

"Oh, really, a communications exchange? That could be handy." Totter said, having no idea what she was really talking about.

"Firm's going down though." Craig shrugged. "The bosses are using a totally rubbish business model. I know what they should do, I got a plan all worked out, but I'm just a phone drone, I can't go running in saying I know best." He stopped quickly, looking between Totter and The Doctor. "Why am I telling you this? I don't even know you."

"We've got those faces." The Doctor said. "People never stop blurting out their plans while we're around."

"Right," Craig nodded. "Where's your stuff?"

"Don't worry, it'll materialise, if all goes to plan." Totter muttered, staring up at the ceiling.

* * *

"Oh, that was incredible!" Craig said, putting the empty plate down on the coffee table in front of him. "That was absolutely brilliant. Where did you learn to cook?"

"Paris, in the 18th century." The Doctor said.

"No, hang on, that's not recent, is it?" Totter asked.

The Doctor raised his shoulders in confusion. "17th? No, no, no, 20th. Sorry, I'm not used to doing them in the right order."

Craig blinked a few times, looking between the odd couple. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit weird?"

"They never really stop." The Doctor said with a smile. "Ever been to Paris, Craig?"

"Nah, I can't see the point of Paris. I'm not much of a traveller."

"I can tell from your sofa." Totter said.

"My sofa?"

"You're starting to look like it."

"Thanks, love, that's lovely!" Craig laughed.

Totter leaned forward to The Doctor. "Was that rude?" She whispered.

"No, I like it here." The Doctor said as he fondled a pair of pink keys. "I'd miss it, I'd miss..."

"Those keys?" The Doctor asked.

Craig snapped out of his thoughts, "What?"

"You're sort of... fondling them."

"I'm holding them." Craig laughed nervously, putting down the keys on the sofa arm.

"Right."

"Anyway..." He said, getting up and walking over to the table by the door, fishing out a set of keys. "These... these are your keys."

"We can stay?" The Doctor asked, walking towards him as Totter watched with a smile.

"Yeah, you're weird and you can cook, it's good enough for me." He began to hold up each key. "Right, outdoor, front door, your door."

"Our door." The Doctor said, grinning back at Totter. "Our place. Our gaff." He took they keys from Craig with a smile. "Ha-ha! Yes! Us with a key."

"And listen, Mark and I, we had an arrangement where if you ever need me out of your hair, just give me a shout, OK?"

"Why would we want that?" Totter asked, walking up and stopping next to The Doctor.

"In case you wanted some alone time..." Craig raised an eyebrow at their confused stares.

"Oh, we will." The Doctor nodded. "We'll shout if that happens. Yes. Something like... WE WERE NOT EXPECTING THIS!" He cleared his throat and pointed up at the rot. "By the way, that... the rot. I've got the strangest feeling we shouldn't touch it." He gave him a quick smile before grabbing Totter's hand and pulling her off.

* * *

"Earth to Pond, Earth to Pond." The Doctor said into his earpiece as he and Totter slumped onto the bed. "Come in, Pond."

"Doctor!" Amy called through loudly, making The Doctor wince at the feedback. "Oooh. Sorry!"

"Could you not wreck my new earpiece, Pond?"

"Where's Totts?"

"Here, don't worry." The Doctor muttered, rubbing his ear. "How's the TARDIS coping?"

"See for yourself." The Doctor bustled closer to Totter and they listened in on the state of The TARDIS.

"Ooh, nasty." The Doctor said, sitting up. "She's locked in a materialization loop, trying to land again but she can't."

"And whatever's stopping her is upstairs in that flat. So go upstairs and sort it!"

"I don't know what it is yet!" The Doctor moaned, getting up and standing on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Anything that can stop the TARDIS from landing is big, scary big!"

"Wait...are you scared?" Amy asked.

"...Orange juice, eocenes Arbuckle, rare tarantula on the table, ooh!" The Doctor began to rant, making Totter smile at him. Clearly the woman had no idea that he wasn't making sense. "I can't go up there until I know what it is and how to deal with it! It is vital that this "man" upstairs doesn't realise who and what I am." He began to jump up and down on the bed with a smile. "So no sonicking. No advanced technology. I can only use this," He tapped on the earpiece. "Cos we're on scramble." He shrugged and jumped to the floor, looking back at Totter. "To anyone else hearing this conversation, we're talking absolute gibberish."

"Practical eruption in chicken." Totter giggled. "Descartes Lombardy spiral." The Doctor looked back at Totter with a smile. Bless, she really had no idea.

"All I've got to do is pass as an ordinary human being." The Doctor nodded, picking up a pair of sunglasses and looking in the dressing table mirror. "Simple. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Have you seen you?" Amy asked.

"So you're just going to be snide? No helpful hints?"

"Hmm, well, here's one...bow tie, get rid!"

He fixed his tie in the mirror, "Bow ties are cool." He shrugged, taking of the sunglasses and putting them in his pocket. "Come on, Amy, I'm a normal bloke, tell me what normal blokes do."

"They watch telly, they play football… they go down the pub."

The Doctor picked up a book and flicked through it, "I could do those things! I don't, but I could!" There was a sudden crashing from above. "Hang on. Wait, wait, wait! Amy?!" The Doctor and Totter looked over at the clock on the dressing table as the hands span round back and forth. The Doctor frowned and held his wrist up, looking at his watch as it done exactly the same thing. "Interesting." He muttered. "Localised time loop."

"Ow!" Amy screeched. "What's all that?"

"Time distortion. Whatever's happening upstairs, is still affecting you."

"It's stopped...ish!" Amy said as she stopped screaming. "How about your end?"

"My end's good."

"So, doesn't sound great, but nothing to worry about?"

"No, no, no, not really! Just keep the zigzag plotter on full, that'll protect you."

"Ah!"

"Amy, I said the zigzag plotter!"

"I pulled the zigzag plotter!"

"What, you're standing with the door behind you?"

"Yes!"

"OK, take two steps to your right and pull it again!" The Doctor said as he mimed the actions. There was a silence as Amy done exactly as she was instructed before letting out a sigh of relief. "Oh. Now, I must not use the sonic. I've got work to do, need to pick up a few items." He cut Amy off and pulled Totter up off the bed and out of the room.

* * *

Craig knocked on the bathroom door, listening to the sound of running water and The Doctor singing. He shuffled to the side uncomfortably as Totter's elbow digged into his leg. He glanced down at the woman sitting outside the bathroom, reading a book.

"Um," Craig began, making Totter look up with a grin.

"Hello." She smiled before following Craig's gaze to the bathroom. "He's in there. Well, who else would be? Showers don't work by themselves. Although, on this one planet-"

"Doctor!" He called through, looking away from the woman with confusion.

"Hello?!" The Doctor replied.

"How long are you going to be in there?"

"Oh, sorry, I like a good soak!"

There was a sudden loud bang, making Craig look up, "What the hell was that?"

"What did you say?"

"I'm just going to go upstairs, see if he's OK."

"Sorry?" The Doctor shouted as Craig turned and left the flat. Totter shrugged innocently and returned to her book. "What did you say? Craig?" Moments later, The Doctor came bolting out of the bathroom with a towel round his waist. "Totts why did you let him go up there?" He shouted over his shoulder as he ran out of the flat, clutching a toothbrush.

"Was that bad?" Totter asked, chucking the book across the hallway and getting up and chasing after him. She bolted out into the hallway to find Craig at the bottom of the stairs with The Doctor standing next to him, aiming a electric toothbrush up at the door upstairs.

"What happened, what's going on?" The Doctor asked.

"Is that my toothbrush?" Craig laughed.

"Correct." The Doctor said, pulling back the toothbrush and staring at it. "You spoke to the man upstairs?"

"Yeah."

"What did he look like?"

"More normal than you do at the moment, mate." Craig scoffed. "What are you doing?"

"I thought you might be in trouble."

"Thanks. Well if I ever am, you can come and save me with my toothbrush." Craig nodded as a phone ran from inside the flat. He gave the TARDIS duo an odd look before walking back into the flat to retrieve the ringing phone. The Doctor gave his wife a look before climbing the stairs cautiously. As Totter watched him carefully, the front door slammed shut as Sophie walked in.

"Ooh! Hello?" Sophie said, making The Doctor and Totter turn around and look at her.

"Ah! Hello! The Doctor." The Doctor smiled, coming down the stairs towards Sophie. "Right. You must be Sophie."

"Mm-hm." Sophie nodded as The Doctor gave her Gallic air kiss like he gave Craig. "Oh...oh!" The Doctor glanced up at the stairs once more before taking Totter's hand and walking back into the flat.

"No, Dom's in Malta, there's nobody around." Craig said on the phone, pacing the flat. "Hang on a sec." He looked up at The Doctor. "We've got a match today, pub league, we're one down if you fancy it?"

"Pub league? A drinking competition?" The Doctor agreed.

Totter rolled her eyes at him. "Obviously not sweetie." She smirked. "Intergalactic Polo with the planetary rules of the Lost Moon of Poosh." She looked over at Craig apologetically. "Sorry." She mouthed.

"No...football..." Craig said, giving Totter a ludicrous stare. "Play football?"

"Football. Football!" The Doctor nodded. "Yes, blokes play football! I'm good at football, I think."

"You've saved my life!" Craig smiled, patting The Doctor on the cheek. "I've got somebody. All right, see you down there." He said into the phone before hanging up. "Hey, Soph." Craig nodded at her as The Doctor went over to the fridge and opened it up, taking a carton of milk out of it.

"Hey, I thought I'd come early and meet your new flatmate." Sophie said, smiling uneasily at Totter as she wrapped her arms round The Doctor's middle.

"Do you play, Sophie?" The Doctor asked, taking a sip from the carton before putting it back into the fridge and putting his arm round Totter's shoulder.

"No, Soph just stands on the sidelines, she's my mascot." Craig said.

"I'm your mascot?" Sophie said, raising an eyebrow at him. "Mascot?!"

"Well, not my mascot, it's a football match, I can't take a date."

"I didn't say I was your date."

"Neither did I."

The Doctor coughed awkwardly, "Better get dressed." He handed Craig the toothbrush and headed for the room.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't." Totter shrugged. Craig and Sophie looked over before awkwardly staring at the floor as The Doctor looked back at her with a smirk before she giggled. "That was very human, wasn't it?"

"Very." The Doctor nodded.

"Oh, the spare kit's just in the bottom drawer." Craig said as The Doctor scurried back, grabbed Totter's hand and pulled her into the bedroom.

"What d'you think?" Craig asked.

"You didn't say he was gorgeous!" Sophie hissed as the bedroom door opened again and The Doctor and Totter stuck their heads out.

"You unlocked the door." The Doctor frowned. "How did you do that? Those are your keys," He nodded over at the pink keys. "You must have left them last time you came here."

"Yeah, but I...How do you know these are my keys?"

"I've been holding them!" Craig said quickly, glaring over at The Doctor.

"I have got another set." Sophie said, holding up another pair of keys.

"You've got two sets of keys to someone else's house?" Totter asked before quickly placing a kiss to the side of The Doctor's jaw.

"Yeah."

"I see! You must like it here too." He gave her a quick smile before shutting the bedroom door. "Possessive much?" He asked, picking her up and throwing her onto the bed as she laughed at him.

"Shutup." She laughed.

* * *

"So we're going out, if we hang about the house all the time, him upstairs might get suspicious, notice us." The Doctor said into the earpiece as he stood in the football kit, looking in the mirror.

"Football, OK, well done, that is normal." Amy replied.

"Yeah, football, all outdoorsy." The Doctor nodded as Totter appeared next to him, also looking in the mirror.

"Now, football's the one with the sticks, isn't it?" She asked.

* * *

"What are you actually called, what are your proper names?" Craig asked as he, Sophie, Totter and The Doctor walked through the park.

"Just call me the Doctor." The Doctor shrugged.

"And Totter." Totter agreed

"Yeah." Sophie nodded.

"I can't say to these guys, Hey, these are my new flatmates, they're called the Doctor and Totter." Craig frowned.

"Why not?" Totter asked.

"'Cos it's weird." Craig frowned as one of Craig's teammates, Sean, approached them.

"All right, Craig. Soph." Sean nodded before looking at The Doctor and Totter. "All right."

"Hello, we're Craig's new flatmates." The Doctor said, shaking the mans hand before giving him a Gallic kiss. "I'm called the Doctor. This is my wife, Totter."

"All right, Totter, Doctor. I'm Sean. Where are you strongest?"

"Arms." Totter smirked.

"No, he means, what position?" Craig said. "On the field?"

"Not sure." The Doctor shrugged. "The front? The side? Below?"

"Are you any good though?" Sean asked, throwing The Doctor a ball.

The Doctor spun it on his finger, before stopping and looking up with a grin. "Let's find out!" He kicked the ball off and headed out onto the field.

* * *

"That was amazing." Totter smiled, placing a kiss to The Doctor's cheek as they stopped next to the park bench.

"You are so on the team!" Sean laughed. "Next week we've got the Crown and Anchor, we'll annihilate them!"

"No violence, not while I'm around, not today, not ever." The Doctor snapped, looking the man in the eyes. "I'm the Doctor, the oncoming storm... and you meant beat them in a football match, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Lovely, what sort of time?" Craig opened a can, spilling it everywhere and making everyone laugh. It began to repeat, involving everyone apart from The Doctor and Totter. The Doctor and Totter shared a quick look before The Doctor quickly put back on the ear piece, tapping it quickly. "Amy? Amy?"

"It's happening again! Worse!" Amy replied nervously as The TARDIS shook in the background.

"What does the scanner say?"

"A lot of nines. Is it good that they're nines? Tell me it's good that they're all nines!"

"Yes, yes, it's...it's good! Zigzag plotter, zigzag plotter, Amy." Amy's scream suddenly echoed through the earpiece. "Amy? Are you there? Amy?"

"Yes, hello." Amy gasped.

"Ah, thank heavens. I thought the TARDIS had been flung off into the vortex with you inside it… lost forever."

"You mean that could actually happen!? You have got to get me out of here."

"How are the numbers?"

"All fives."

"Fives?" He glanced over to see the time loop had stopped. "Even better. "Still, it means the effect's almost unbelievably powerful and dangerous, but don't worry. Hang on, OK? I've got some rewiring to do."

"Hey! You..."hang on"!"

* * *

The Doctor peered out of the bedroom, traffic cone under his arm to be faced with Craig.

"Hello, flatmate." The Doctor said quietly.

"Hey, man." Craig nodded. "Listen, Sophie's coming round tonight and I was wondering if you could give us some space?"

"Oh, don't mind us. You won't even know we're here. Totts is asleep." He glanced back with a warm smile, looking over at Totter asleep in the middle of the junk he'd collected. He looked back at Craig as there was a loud bash from above, making him look up. "That's the idea." He shut the door and Craig stood still, listening against the door. "Yes, perfect! What a beauty!"

...

Totter opened her eyes slowly to be met with a red velvet box. She sat up slowly, dodging the moving cricket bat and got up, grabbing the engagement ring box and squeezing it tightly. As much as she didn't care to admit to The Doctor, she missed Rory more than he realised. He was a sweet, kind man who looked out for her when she was first born and had no idea how to live life. The sandy haired man done a full medical on her, made sure she was safe and that none of the Huon particles left flowing through her were poisonous. She sighed, placing a kiss on the box before placing it back on the side. She walked up to the door and opened it, peering out at the end of a conversation between The Doctor, Craig and Sophie.

"Of course it's not true." Sophie gasped. "I'm not staying in a call centre all my life, I can do anything I want!" The Doctor smiled at her again, making her smile. "Oh! Yeah! Right!" She grinned and looked back at Craig. "Oh, my God! Did you see what he just did?"

"No, what's happening?" Craig frowned. "Are you going to live with monkeys now?"

"It's a big old world, Sophie." The Doctor shrugged. "Work out what's really keeping you here, eh?"

"I don't know. Dunno." Sophie shrugged.

* * *

"Right. Shield's up." The Doctor ducked back from the contraption on the bed and standing next to Totter, earpiece flashing away. "Let's scan!"

"What are you getting?" Amy asked as The Doctor glanced over at a converted digital clock.

"Upstairs." The Doctor muttered. "No traces of high technology. Totally normal. No no, no, no, it can't be! It's too normal."

"Only for you could too normal be a problem. You said I could be lost forever. Just go upstairs."

"Without knowing, get ourselves killed, then you really are lost. If we could just get a look in there..." Totter muttered, staring at the ceiling. "Hold on." She reached forward and stopped the device spinning. "Use the data bank, get us the plans of this building - its history, the layout, everything."

"Meanwhile, I shall recruit a spy." The Doctor smiled.

* * *

"Craig! Craig?" Totter knocked on Craig's bedroom door as The Doctor held a tray. "Breakfast. It's normal. Craig? Craig!"

The two of them bolted into the room to find Craig lying on the bed, unmoving. The Doctor put the tray down and kneeled down next to him, grabbing his arms.

"Craig, I told you not to touch it!" The Doctor muttered. "What's that?" He frowned, looking at a green vein running up his arm. "An unfamiliar and obviously poisonous substance. "Oh, I know what would be really clever, I'll stick my hand in it!" Come on, Craig, breathe." The Doctor pounded on Craig's chest, making him gasp. "Come on, Craig, breathe! Thems are healthy footballer's lungs!" He jumped back up, grabbing the teapot and pushing past Totter, running out of the room again.

* * *

"I've got to go to work." Craig said hoarsely as The Doctor got Craig to drink from the tea pot's spout using a wooden spoon.

"On no account." The Doctor insisted. "You need rest. One more."

"It's the planning meeting, it's important."

"You're important." Totter said with a smile. "You're going to be fine, Craig."

* * *

Craig threw open the front door, grabbing onto Totter's arm.

"Oh, hello." The Doctor smiled, looking up from the stairs.

"I can't take this any more. I want you to go!" Craig said desperately, throwing Totter out. He turned and walked back into the flat with The Doctor and Totter following. "You can have this back an' all." He said, shoving the paper bag full of money into The Doctor's hand.

"What have we done?" The Doctor asked.

"For a start, talking to a cat."

"Lots of people talk to cats." Totter frowned as The Doctor threw the bag over his shoulder.

"Everybody loves you, you're better at football than me, and my job, and now Sophie's all "Oh, monkeys, monkeys!" and then..." He pushed open The Doctor and Totter's bedroom door to show the contraption the TARDIS duo had been building. "There's that!" The two of them rushed over.

"It's art!" The Doctor gasped. "A statement on modern society, Ooh, ain't modern society awful?"

"Us three, it's not gonna work out. You've been here three days, the three weirdest days of my life."

"Your days will get a lot weirder if we go!"

"I thought it was good weird, but it's not, it's bad weird! I can't do this any more!"

"We can't leave this place. We're like you, we can't see the point of anywhere else. Madrid, hah, what a dump! We have to stay."

"No, you don't, you have to leave!"

"We can't go!"

"Just get out!" Craig went to push The Doctor, only for him to grab him by his lapels. "Right! Only way! I'm going to show you something, but ssh, really, ssh! Oh, I am going to regret this. OK, right... First, general background!" He headbutted Craig and the fatter man shouted out in pain as images of The Doctor's past incarnations and Totter's birth fled through his mind. He gasped in realization and pointed at the both of them.

"You're a..."

"Yes."

"From..."

"Ssh."

"You've got a TARDIS!"

"Yes. Ssh!" The Doctor pointed at his face. "Eleventh! Right... OK, specific detail!" He head butted Craig again, filling him in on the reason they were there.

"You saw my ad in the paper shop window."

"Yes, with this right above it." Totter said, taking Amy's note out of her pocket and showing it to him. "Which is odd, because Amy hasn't written it yet. Time travel, it CAN happen."

"That's a scanner!" Craig gasped, looking back and pointing at the scanner. "You used non-technological technology of Lammasteen." The Doctor clapped a hand over Craig's mouth as Totter winced.

"Shut up!" The Doctor hissed. "Aaargh! I am never, ever doing that ever ever again..." He groaned, turning on the earpiece. "Amy!"

"That's Amy Pond!" Craig said in realization, pointing at the earpiece.

"Oh, of course, you can understand us now, hurrah." The Doctor said sarcastically. "Got those plans yet?" He asked Amy.

"Still searching for them!" Amy replied.

"I've worked it out with psychic help from a cat."

"Cat?"

"Yes, I know he's got a time engine in the flat upstairs."

"He's using innocent people to try and launch it." Totter called to her. "Whenever he does, they get burnt up, hence the stain..."

"From the ceiling?" Craig asked, nodding above him.

"Well done, Craig." The Doctor nodded. "And you, Miss Pond, nearly get thrown off into the Vortex."

"Lovely!" Amy scoffed.

"People are dying up there?" Craig asked as another time loop began, making Craig repeat himself. "People are dying. People are dying."

"Amy!" The Doctor called through the earpiece as the sound of The TARDIS lurched echoed through and the time loop stopped.

"They're being killed!" Craig gasped.

"Someone's up there." Totter gulped before running out of the room with The Doctor and Craig following.

* * *

"Doctor!" Amy called through as Totter and The Doctor ran up the stairs.

"Hang on!" The Doctor said, looking back at Craig as he stopped stiff, staring over at the front door where Sophie's keys were in the lock. "Craig, come on...someone's dying up there." The Doctor said, glancing over at the keys before bolting up the stairs.

"It's Sophie. It's Sophie that's dying up there, it's Sophie!" Craig gasped, running after him.

"Totter! Doctor! Stop!" Amy shouted, making them stop abruptly outside the door to the upstairs flat.

"Where's Sophie?!"

"Wait, wait! Amy?" The Doctor asked.

"Are you upstairs?" Amy asked desperately.

"Just going in!"

"But you can't be upstairs."

"Of course we can be upstairs!"

"Come on!" Craig begged.

"No!" Amy said. "I've got the plans, you cannot be upstairs, it's a one-storey building. There is no upstairs!" Totter and Craig shared a look before looking down the stairs as The Doctor used the sonic on the door and they entered the flat. Through the normal looking front door was a very advanced spaceship with a panel in the middle. It looked like a basic version of The TARDIS, but with six electric balls on panels round the console.

"What?" Craig asked as the three of them slowly walked in.

"What?" The Doctor frowned. "Oh. Oh, of course! The time engine isn't IN the flat, the time engine IS the flat!"

"Someone's attempt to build a TARDIS." Totter said in disgust, shaking her head as The Doctor squeezed her hand.

"No, there's always been an upstairs." Craig frowned.

"Has there?" The Doctor asked. "Think about it!"

"Yes. No. I don't..."

"Perception filter." Totter said. "It's more than a disguise. It tricks your memory." There was a sudden scream and the three of them looked up to to see Sophie being pulled towards one of the electric spheres by the hand.

"Sophie!" Craig shouted as the three of them ran over to her. "Sophie! Oh, my God, Sophie!" He grabbed her hand quickly, struggling to keep her hand away from the glowing panel.

"Craig! It's controlling her." The Doctor said. "It's willing her to touch the activator."

"It's not going to have her!" Craig shouted as The Doctor soniced the panel as Sophie touched it, screaming.

"Ah! Deadlock seal!" The Doctor muttered.

"You've got to do something!" Craig begged before the console let Sophie go and with a sigh of relief Craig lowered her to the ground.

"What? Why's it let her go?" Totter asked as she and The Doctor looked around. Their gaze finally landed to see a dried up skeleton on the other side of the room. The Doctor looked away with a gulp and walked into the center of the room for a hologram of an old man appeared.

"You will help me." The hologram demanded.

"Right!" The Doctor said confidently. "Stop! Crashed ship, let's see. Hello, I'm Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue. Please state the nature of your emergency."

"The ship has crashed. The crew are dead. A pilot is required." The hologram replied.

"You're the emergency crash program. A hologram. You've been luring people up here so you can try them out." The Doctor flicked the sonic at the hologram, making it change to a little girl, a younger man, then back to the old man.

"You will help me, you will help me, you will help me."

"Craig!" Sophie gasped, grabbing onto Craig's arm. "Where am I?"

"Hush!" The Doctor hissed before turning back to the hologram. "Human brains aren't strong enough, they just burn. You're stupid, aren't you? You just keep trying."

"17 people have been tried. 6,000,400,026 remain."

"Seriously, what is going on?" Sophie asked as Craig helped her to her feet.

"Oh, for goodness' sake." Totter muttered, rolling her eyes. "The top floor of Craig's building is in reality an alien space ship intent on slaughtering the population of this planet."

"Any questions?" The Doctor asked. "No? Good."

"Yes, I have questions." Sophie said.

"The correct pilot has now been found." The hologram informed.

"Yes, I was worried you'd say that." The Doctor muttered.

"He means you, Doctor, doesn't he?" Amy asked through the earpiece.

"No." The Doctor said nervously as fingers of energy reached out from the electrical spheres and began to pull Totter towards the control panel.

"The correct pilot has been found. The correct pilot has been found." The hologram repeated.

"What's happening?" Amy asked.

"It's pulling me in! I'm the new pilot!" Totter gasped as The Doctor wrapped his arms around Totter's waist and pulled her back, although the electrical beams kept her trapped.

"Could she do it?" Amy asked nervously. "Could she fly the ship safely?"

"No, I'm way too much for this ship." Totter laughed nervously as her hand halted inches above the glowing panel. "My hand touches that panel, the planet doesn't blow up, the whole solar system does."

"The correct pilot has been found." The hologram repeated.

"No...worst choice ever, I promise you." The Doctor said. "Stop this!" He begged, repeatedly pulling Totter back.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted through as The TARDIS lurched even more. "It's getting worse."

The Doctor looked up in realization, "It doesn't want everyone. Craig, it didn't want you!"

"I spoke to him and he said I couldn't help him!" Craig spluttered.

"It didn't want Sophie before but now it does. What's changed?" The Doctor asked nervously as Totter screamed out in pain. "No! I gave her the idea of leaving! It's a machine that needs to leave, it wants people who want to escape! And you don't want to leave, Craig, you're Mr Sofa Man."

"Doctor!" Amy screamed again.

"Craig, you can shut down the engine. Put your hand on the panel and concentrate on why you want to stay!"

"Craig, no!" Sophie gasped.

"Will it work?" Craig asked.

"Yes!" The Doctor begged, leaning his forehead against hers on Totter's face as tears poured down her cheek.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Is that a lie?"

"Of course, it's a lie!"

"It's good enough for me. Geronimo!" Craig slammed his palm onto the panel and screamed as the energy courses through him, making the ship release its hold on Totter. Totter stepped back with a gasp as The Doctor rushed over to Craig.

"Craig!" Sophie gasped as Amy screamed through earpiece.

"Craig, what's keeping you here?" The Doctor asked. "Think about everything that makes you want to stay here! Why don't you want to leave?" He asked loudly, slapping Craig lightly.

"Sophie!" Craig exclaimed. "And I don't want to leave Sophie! I can't leave Sophie! I love Sophie!"

"I love you, too, Craig, you idiot!" Sophie gasped, slapping her hand down on the panel with Craig's making the ship smoke and spark.

"Honestly, do you mean that?"

"Of course I mean it! Do you mean it?"

"I've always meant it. Seriously though, do you mean it?"

"Yes."

"But what about the monkeys?"

"Oh, not now, not again! Craig, the planet's about to burn!" The Doctor exclaimed. "For God's sake, kiss the girl!"

"Kiss the girl!" Totter agreed. As Sophie and Craig kissed, they pulled their hands away, wrapping their hands together.

"You've done it. Aha, you've done it!" Amy laughed from The TARDIS. "Oh, now the screen's just zeros! Now it's minus ones, minus twos, minus threes... Big yes!" The hologram cycled through its different voices and projections at an extreme pace.

"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me." The hologram begged.

"Big no." The Doctor said.

"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me."

"Did we switch it off?" Craig asked as he pulled out of the kiss.

"Emergency shutdown, it's imploding, everybody out, out, out!" Totter exclaimed, running towards the door with The Doctor, Craig and Sophie on her tail. The house began to shake as they ran down the stairs and out of the front door to the other side of the street just in time to see as the perception filter dissipated to reveal the ship. Mere seconds later, the ship disappeared as people strolled past, not realizing what had happened.

"Look at them." Craig gulped, watching at the people walking by. "Didn't they see that? The whole top floor just vanished."

"Perception filter." The Doctor said. "There never was a top floor."

* * *

The Doctor placed the keys on the sideboard and gave a small smile to Totter as they made their way towards the door.

"Oi!" Craig called over. They looked over as Craig and Sophie approached them.

"What, you're trying to sneak off?" Sophie asked.

"Yes, well, you were sort of... busy." The Doctor shrugged as Craig picked up the keys again and held them out to the TARDIS duo.

"I want you to keep these." Craig said. "Thank you."

"Thank you." The Doctor said, taking the keys from him. "Cos we might pop back soon, have another little stay."

"No, you won't. I've been in your head, remember? But I still want you to keep them."

"Thank you, Craig." Totter said with a smile.

"Thank you, Doctor, Totter."

"Sophie." The Doctor nodded, putting one hand on both of their shoulders. "Now then. 6,000,400,026 people in the world. That's the number to beat."

"Yeah." Sophie laughed. The Doctor gave them one last smile before taking Totter's hand and turning and leaving.

* * *

"Back in time!" The Doctor said, pulling one of the levers on The TARDIS console.

"You need to go to the paper shop, leave that note for us." Totter said, pulling the scanner round.

"Right little matchmakers, aren't you?" Amy smirked as The Doctor put on his stethoscope and listened to the console. "Can't you find me a fella?"

"Oh, rectifier's playing up again..." The Doctor muttered to Totter before walking around the console. "Hold on. You write the note and I'll change that will."

"You got a pen?"

"Make sure it's a red pen." Totter called over, pointing over at The Doctor's jacket. Amy walked over and put her hand into his jacket before pulling out the red engagement ring box from Rory. She opened it and stared at the ring with a gulp before looking back over at Totter and The Doctor grinning at each other.

**A/N - So there's The Lodger! Very fun to write! Next up is The Pandorica Opens which I'm looking forward to write, it's gonna be fun hehe! Couple of notices...**

**Nobody ever got back to me on rewriting the confidential episodes, so I assume that nobody's interested.**

**I've started writing a story with original adventures. The Doctor never met Rose so he has a bunch of new companions, new adventures, and new causes of regenerations. The first companion, Mariella Williams, was a lot of fun writing. She's very sarcastic and blunt so it was enjoyable. It would mean a lot to me if you guys checked it out. **

**Anyway, please review, lots of love to all. **


	6. The Pandorica Opens

"Vavoom!" The Doctor shouted at Amy, poking his head under the console.

"Va-what?" Amy frowned as she got up and headed up to the console where The Doctor and Totter were dancing round the console in sync, pulling controls as they went.

"I can't believe I've never thought of this before, it's genius." The Doctor laughed. "Right! Landed, come on." He turned and headed for the door.

"Where are we?" Amy asked.

"Planet One, the oldest planet in the universe." Totter said with a smile. "There's a cliff of pure diamond and, according to legend, on the cliff there's writing, letters 50 feet high, a message from the dawn of time, and no-one knows what it says, 'cos no-one's ever translated it. Till today."

"What happens today?"

The Doctor tapped the ginger on the nose, "Us." He grinned. "The TARDIS can translate anything. All we have to do is open the doors and read the very first words in recorded history." He grabbed Totter and Amy's hand and pulled them out of the door.

The three of them stepped out onto a tropical planet, looking up at the cliff-face and in large letters it read "HELLO SWEETIE" with Greek looking symbols underneath.

Amy chuckled, Totter smirked and The Doctor just stared at River's message, "Vavoom!" Amy said quietly.

* * *

"Right place?" Amy asked as the three of them stepped out onto the field as The Doctor stared at his watch.

"Just followed the co-ordinates on the cliff-face." The Doctor muttered. "Earth. Britain. 1:02am. No, pm." He looked up and stopped as they looked over a large Roman encampment. "No, AD."

"That's a Roman Legion."

"Well, yeah." Totter shrugged. "The Romans invaded Britain several times during this period."

"Oh, I know. My favourite topic at school. Invasion of the hot Italians. Yeah, I did get marked down for the title." She smirked over at Totter as a breathless Roman soldier came running up to them.

The soldier saluted his arm to his chest, "Hail, Caesar!" He kneeled.

"Hi." The Doctor nodded awkwardly.

"Welcome to Britain. We are honoured by your presence."

"Well, you're only human. Arise... Roman person."

"Why does he think you're Caesar?" Amy asked as the soldier stood up so the three of them could see smudges of lipstick on his face.

"Cleopatra will see you now." The soldier said before turning and leading them off.

* * *

The three of them walked into the tent they'd been led into to see two servants waiting on a woman, dressed as Cleopatra. As the servants moved out of the way, The Doctor, Totter and Amy realised that Cleopatra was in fact River.

"Hello, sweetie." River grinned.

"River! Hi." Amy nodded, looking round impressed at the servants.

"You graffitied the oldest cliff-face in the universe." Totter said, raising an eyebrow at the woman.

River rolled her eyes, "You wouldn't answer your phone." She clapped her hands, making the servants leave before holding out a scrolled canvas.

"What's this?" The Doctor asked.

"It's a painting. Your friend Vincent." River said, taking it from the woman and handing it to The Doctor. The Doctor walked over to a table, unrolling it as the woman and River stood up and walked over to him. "One of his final works. He had visions, didn't he? I thought you ought to know about this one."

"Doctor? Doctor, what is this?" Amy asked as the five of them stared down at the picture of The TARDIS exploding. "Why's it exploding?"

"I assume it's some kind of warning." River shrugged as The Doctor and Totter looked up at her in unison.

"Something's going to happen to the TARDIS?" Amy asked, gesturing back at the painting.

"It might not be that literal." River said. "Anyway this is where he wanted you. Date and map reference on the door sign, see?"

"Does it have a title?" The Doctor asked.

"The Pandorica Opens." River said.

"The Pandorica?" Amy frowned. "What is it?"

"A box. A cage. A prison. It was built to contain the most feared thing in all the universe."

The Doctor got up and began to pace the tent, "And it's a fairy tale, a legend. It can't be real." He insisted.

"If it is real, it's here and it's opening." River said. "And it's got something to do with your TARDIS exploding." The Doctor began to pull out local maps as River and Violet shared a look. "Hidden, obviously. Buried for centuries. You won't find it on a map."

"No. But if you buried the most dangerous thing in the universe, you'd want to remember where you put it."

...

The Doctor bolted round the stones, sonicing them as River had her head stuck in a PDA.

"How come it's not new?" Amy asked as Totter turned round, innocently looking at the stones.

"Because it's already old." River said. "Been here thousands of years. No-one knows exactly how long."

"OK, this Pandorica thing." Amy said, looking back at River. "Last time we saw you, you warned us about it, after we climbed out of the Byzantium."

"Spoilers!" River said, placing a finger to her lip.

"No, but you told the Doctor you'd see him again when the Pandorica opens."

"Maybe I did. But I haven't yet. But I will have." She shrugged.

"Doctor," River called over, looking down at the PDA. "I'm picking up fry particles everywhere. Energy weapons discharged on this site." She looked up and grinned as she looked up at The Doctor standing on a large stone.

"If the Pandorica is here, it contains the mightiest warrior in history." Totter said, looking up at The Doctor. "Now, half the galaxy would want a piece of that. Maybe even fight over it." She suggested as The Doctor jumped down and put a ear to the stone. "We need to get down there."

...

"Right then." River said, stepping back from placing a device on the stone. She took Totter's hand and squeezed it as they stood in the darkness apart from the artificial lights placed around the stone. "Ready." River pressed a button on the PDA and the rock slid open slowly to reveal a set of stone steps underneath. River took out a torch as Totter stepped forward down the stairs.

"The underhenge." The Doctor said quietly, taking out his sonic, using it as a torch and following his wife under.

...

The five of them stepped out of a narrow passage and The Doctor used the screwdriver to light a torch on the wall. River headed over to the opposite wall and brought over a torch over to light it. The Doctor lifted up a large board that was acting as a lock across a huge set of doors and with a nod and a smile to River, they push open the doors and found themselves in a cavernous room. In the center stood a large box with an intricate circular pattern on each side.

"It's the Pandorica." Totter whispered.

"More than just a fairy tale." Totter said with a smile. The Doctor walked forward and stepped on something. He looked down to see a arm of a Cyberman before looking back at Totter. She followed his gaze and looked down at the arm before sharing a silent look. The Doctor turned back around and walked towards the Pandora, placing a hand on it's side.

"There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior." The Doctor said. "A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world."

Totter gave a sigh and walked over to him, "Sounds like you in a way." The Doctor gave her a small smile and put his hand on the small of her back.

"How did it end up in there?" Amy asked.

"You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it." The Doctor said, letting go and walking round the side of the Pandorica whilst River handed Amy her torch as she took out her scanner.

"I hate good wizards in fairy tales." River muttered. "They always turn out to be him."

"So it's kind of like Pandora's Box, then?" Amy asked, looking round intently. "Almost the same name."

"Sorry, what?" Totter asked, looking back at her.

"The story. Pandora's Box, with all the worst things in the world in it." The Doctor walked over and put his torch into a holder on the wall then used the screwdriver on the Pandorica. "That was my favourite book when I was a kid." The Doctor stopped and walked over to Amy with a concerned look spread across his face.

"What's wrong?" Amy frowned.

"Your favourite school topic, your favourite story." Totter called over.

"Never ignore a coincidence, unless you're busy." The Doctor said. "In which case, always ignore a coincidence." He gave her one last nod and walked back over to the Pandorica.

"So can you open it?" River asked.

"Easily." Totter nodded. "Anyone can break INTO a prison, but I'd rather know what I'm going to find first."

"It's already opening." River said, looking down from the PDA. "There are layers and layers of security protocols in there, and they're being disabled, one by one. Like it's being unlocked from the inside."

"How long do we have?" The Doctor asked.

"Hours at the most."

"What kind of security?"

"Everything. Deadlocks, time-stops, matter-lines."

"What could need all that?" Totter frowned.

"What could get past all that?"

"Think of the fear that went into making this box." The Doctor said. "What could inspire that level of fear?" He placed his hand on the Pandorica. "Hello, you. Have we met?"

"So why would it start to open now?"

"No idea."

"Hmm, and how could Vincent have known about it?" Amy asked. "He won't even be born for centuries." The Doctor let out a small yelp as Totter shoved him against the Pandorica, reaching into his pocket and taking out the sonic.

"The stones!" Totter shouted, running across the room, sonicing the stones. "These stones are great big transmitters, broadcasting a warning to everyone, everywhere, to every time zone. The Pandorica is opening!"

"Totter..." River said. "Everyone, everywhere?"

"Even poor Vincent heard it in his dreams." She nodded. "What's in there, what could justify all this?"

"Totter, everyone?"

"Anything that powerful, I'd know about it." The Doctor said in agreement. "Why don't either of us know?"

"Totter, you said everyone could hear it." River said sternly. "So who else is coming?"

Totter stopped suddenly, looking back at River, "Oh." She said.

"Oh?" Amy asked. "Oh, what?"

"OK," River said, placing her PDA against the nearest pillar. "If it is basically a transmitter, we should be able to fold back the signal."

"Doing it." Totter said, quickly walking between the stones, sonicing them as she ran.

"Doing what?" Amy asked.

"Stonehenge is transmitting," River explained as she looked at her scanner. "It's been transmitting for a while...so who heard?"

"OK, should be feeding back to you now." Totter called over. "River, what's out there? Getting anything?"

"Give me a moment."

"River, quickly, anything?" The Doctor asked.

A look of stun flashed across River's face, "Around this planet, there are at least 10,000 starships."

"At least?" Amy asked nervously.

"10,000, 100,000, 1 million, I don't know. There's too many readings."

"What kind of starships?" Totter asked as she threw the sonic back to The Doctor.

"_**Maintaining orbit.**_" A Dalek transmission suddenly cut through. "_**I obey. Shield cover compromised on ion sectors**_."

"Daleks. Those are Daleks." Amy gulped.

"_**Scan detects no temporal activity. Soft grid scan commencing. Reverse thrust for compensatory stabilisation.**_"

"Daleks." River said.

"_**Launch preliminary armaments protocol.**_"

"Yes, OK. OK, OK, OK." The Doctor nodded. "Dalek fleet. Minimum, 12,000 battleships, armed to the teeth. But we've got surprise on our side! They'll never expect three people to attack 12,000 Dalek battleships, 'cos we'd be killed instantly. So it would be a fairly short surprise. Forget surprise."

"Doctor, Cyber-ships." River called over.

"No, Dalek ships, listen to them, those are Dalek ships."

"Yes. Dalek ships AND Cyber-ships."

"Well, we need to start a fight, turn them on each other." Totter said. "It's the Daleks... they're SO cross..."

"Sontaran. Four battle-fleets." River called.

"Sontarans!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Talk about cross, who stole all their handbags?"

River began to read off the scanner again, "Terileptil. Slitheen. Chelonian. Nestene. Drahvin. Sycorax. Haemo-goth. Zygon. Atraxi. Draconian. They're all here. For the Pandorica."

The Doctor turned back to the Pandorica, "What are you?" He asked quietly. The ground began to shake and The Doctor ran to the stairs with Totter, River and Amy hot on his tail.

...

The four of them looked up to the sky to see lights from a number of ships flying above them.

"What do we do?" Amy asked.

"Doctor, Totter, listen to me!" River begged. "Everything that ever hated you is coming here tonight. You can't win this. You can't even fight it. You two, this once, just this one time, please, you have to run."

"Run where?" The Doctor asked.

"Fight how?" River and Totter shouted in unison as The Doctor took a pair of binoculars of his inside pocket and looked back the way they came.

"The greatest military machine in the history of the universe." The Doctor muttered.

"What is? The Daleks?" Amy asked.

"No, no, no. The Romans!"

...

Totter watched with an innocent smile as two soldiers kept back her and River whilst the Commander paced the tent angrily, "So, I return to my command after one week and discover we've been playing host to Cleopatra. Who's in Egypt. And dead!"

"Yes. Funny how things work out." River said dryly as the ground shook, which didn't faze River and Totter at all.

"The sky is falling, and you make jokes." The Commander said angrily. "Who are you?"

"When you fight Barbarians, what must they think of you?"

"Oh, riddles now?"

"Where do they think you come from?"

The Commander eyed her angrily as he drew his sword, "A place more deadly and more powerful and more impatient than their tiny minds can imagine."

River shared a look with Totter before pulling out her sonic blaster and shot one of the cabinets in the room, stunning the guards and The Commander.

"Where do I come from? Your world has visitors. You're all Barbarians now."

"What is that? Tell me, what?"

"A fool would say, the work of the gods. But you've been a soldier too long to believe there are gods watching over us. There is, however, a man. And tonight he's going to need your help."

"Sir?" A voice called from the other side of the tent in the shadows.

"One moment." The Commander said before turning to the opposite entrance of the tent and had a whispered conversation with the soldier before the Commander turned back to River. "Well, it seems you have a volunteer."

...

"How many soldiers in the end?" Totter asked as her and River sat on a horse, watching over at the spaceships surrounding Stonehenge.

"50 I think." River said, placing her communicator to her ear. "You're surrounded. Have you got a plan?"

"Yes!" The Doctor replied. "Now hurry up and get the TARDIS here. I need equipment!" River rolled her eyes before riding off.

...

River and Totter bounded up to the console, inputting coordinates into the console when The TARDIS dematerialized with a jolt.

"What's the matter with you?" River frowned as Totter stroked the console in concern. "What are you doing, what's wrong?"

"Come on, Mother." Totter whispered as suddenly jolted with a stop.

"OK? You OK now?" River asked as she whacked the scanner. She rolled her eyes before taking Totter's hand and pulling her out of The TARDIS. "Why have you brought me here?" River asked as the both of them peered out through the dark at Amy's house. River took out her PDA and they slowly walked towards the door. The PDA began to beep as the two of them looked down at alien symbols burned into the grass. "OK, so something's been here." They slowly stepped into the house, dodging the door off its hinges before they proceeded up the stairs to Amy's room. "Amy..." River muttered as they looked over at Amy's raggedy Doctor dolls. "Oh, Doctor, why do Totter and I let you out?"

"River." Totter said, picking up a children's book on Roman Britain, sitting on the side, with a soldier identical to the Commander on the front. She picked up a cop of Pandora's Box that was sitting underneath it, showing it to River.

"Oh no..." River muttered.

...

"The TARDIS, where is it? Hurry up!" The Doctor asked through the communicator as River and Totter stood in the console room.

"Don't raise your voice, don't look alarmed, just listen." River replied quickly. "They're not real, they can't be. They're all right here in the story book," She began to flip through the pages of the Roman Britain book. "Those actual Romans, the ones we sent you, the ones you're with right now. They're all in a book in Amy's house, a children's picture book."

"What are you even doing there?"

"It doesn't matter. The TARDIS went wrong."

"Doctor, how is this possible? Something's using her memories, Amy's memories. But how?"

"You said something had been there."

"Yes, there's burn marks on the grass outside, landing patterns."

"If they've been to her house, they could have used her psychic residue. Structures can hold memories, that's why houses have ghosts. They could've taken a snapshot of Amy's memories. But why?"

"Doctor, who are those Romans?"

"Projections. Or duplicates."

"But they were helping us. My lipstick even worked."

"They might think they're real." Totter suggested.

"The perfect disguise." The Doctor agreed. "They actually believe their own cover story, right until they're activated."

"Doctor, that Centurion..." River said, holding up a photo from inside the book of Amy and-

"Rory." Totter gasped, snatching it out of her hand.

"It's a trap, it has to be." River said, looking away from the photo. "They used Amy to construct a scenario you'd believe, to get close to you."

"Why? Who'd do that? What for? It doesn't make sense." Totter jumped back suddenly as the console sparked. "River, what's happening?!"

"I don't know, it's the engines." River said as she pulled on the controls. "Doctor, there's something wrong with the TARDIS, like something else is controlling it."

"You're flying it wrong."

"I'm flying it perfectly. You taught me."

"Where are you? What's the date reading?"

Totter pulled round the scanner, reading it. "It's the 26th June, 2010." She called through.

"You need to get out of there now! Any other time zone, just go." The Doctor demanded.

"I can't break free." River said.

"Well, then, shut down the TARDIS. Shut down everything!"

"I can't!" River said as both she and Totter tried to fly away.

"Silence will fall. Silence will fall." An echoey voice sniggered through the console room, making River and Totter stare at each other nervously.

"Someone else is flying it. An external force. we've lost control." River said nervously.

"But how? Why?" The Doctor asked. "Listen to me, just land her anywhere. Emergency landing, now. There are cracks in time, I've seen them everywhere, and they're getting wider. The TARDIS exploding is what causes them, but we can stop the cracks ever happening if you just land her!"

"It's not safe." River said before the TARDIS finally landed. "Doctor, we're down. we've landed."

"OK, just walk out of the doors. If there's no-one inside, the TARDIS engines shut down. "Just get out of there."

"We're going."

"Run!"

"We can't leave her!" Totter said. River rushed forward and laced her arms around Totter's waist, yanking her towards the doors whilst ignoring her shouts. She pushed her against the railings as she tried to yank at the doors. "River, we can not abandon her!"

River span back to look at her, "I AM NOT LEAVING MY SISTER IN HERE!" She shouted before her jaw dropped.

"What?" Totter whispered. River blinked at her before turning back and putting the communicator to her ear again.

"Doctor! Doctor! I can't open the doors! Doctor, I can't open the doors! Doctor, please, we've got seconds!" Totter jumped back over to the console, throwing River jumper cables. River caught them and attached one to each door. Totter connected them together, wincing as they sparked and exploded. River glanced back at Totter before pulling at the doors which made the console spark even more. River looked back, only to be faced with a stone wall. "I'm sorry, my love." She whispered, looking back over her shoulder at Totter with tears in her eyes.

"You have to explain, River!" Totter begged.

**A/N - So that was fun. There's mentions there of River's future, hehe! Next up is The Big Bang, then A Christmas Carol, before the new story for Series 6, the 2nd in the Insane Child of The TARDIS series, which I haven't decided the name of yet, but I will let you guys know in a Authors Note either in the next chapter, or the chapter after. PLEASE REVIEW! :)**


	7. The Big Bang

"So the universe ended." Rory said, looking down at a very dead Amy. "You missed that. In 102 AD. I suppose this means you and I never get born at all. Twice, in my case. You would have laughed at that. Please laugh! The Doctor said the universe was huge and ridiculous, and sometimes there were miracles. I could do with a ridiculous miracle about now." He laughed sadly, looking up into the open air when The Doctor appeared in a flash of light, wearing a red fez and carrying a mop.

"Rory!" He exclaimed. "Listen, she's not dead. Well, she is dead, but it's not the end of the world. Well, it is the end of the world. Actually, it's the end of the universe. Oh, no. Hang on!" He pressed a few more coordinates into the vortex manipulator strapped on his wrist before disappearing.

"Doctor? Doctor!" Rory shouted before he reappeared without the mop.

"You need to get me out of the Pandorica." The Doctor said, reaching into his inside pocket and pulling out the sonic screwdriver.

Rory frowned, "You're not in the Pandorica."

"Yes, I am. Well, I'm not now, but I was back then. Well, back now from your point of view, which is back then from my point of view. Time travel, you can't keep it straight in your head. It's easy to open from the outside... just point and press. Now go." He chucked Rory the sonic before disappearing again, only to reappear not even a second later. "Oh, when you're done, leave my screwdriver in her top pocket. Good luck!" He gave Rory one last look before teleporting off.

"What do you mean? Done what?"

* * *

Rory stared at the Pandorica cautiously before sonicing it. It opened up and The Doctor stared back at him, amazed.

"How did you do that?" The Doctor asked.

"You gave me this." Rory said, holding up the sonic.

The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out the sonic, showing it to Rory, "No, I didn't."

"You did. Look at it."

The Doctor frowned and stepped out, holding one sonic to the other and winced as they sparked. "Temporal energy. Same screwdriver, at different points in its own time stream. Which means it was me who gave it to you. Me from the future. I've got a future, that's nice." He gave him a small smile before looking behind Rory at the dusty, petrified remains of the aliens that locked him up. "That's not."

"Yeah." Rory said, glancing back at the remains. "What are they?"

"History has collapsed. Whole races have been deleted from existence. These are just like after-images. Echoes, fossils in time. The footprints of the never-were."

"Er, what does that mean?"

"Total event collapse. The universe literally never happened."

"So, how can we be here? What's keeping us safe?"

"Nothing. Eye of the storm, that's all. We're just the last light to go out." He sighed before his eyes widened and his gaze snapped back to Rory. "Where's my wife?"

Rory frowned, "Wife?"

"Totts, where's Totter?"

"You and Totter got married?"

"No, uh, it's not like that. It's complicated. We're not actually married."

Rory gave the Time Lord a small smile, "You two are together then? That's sweet."

The Doctor gave him a quick nod, "Can we do this later? Where's Amy?"

* * *

The Doctor squatted down beside Amy's body and lifted back the blanket covering her.

"I killed her." Rory said regretfully.

"Oh, Rory!" The Doctor soniced.

"Doctor, what am I?"

"You're a Nestene duplicate. A lump of plastic with delusions of humanity." He soniced over Amy's body quickly.

"But I'm Rory now. Whatever was happening, it's stopped. I'm Rory!"

"That's software talking."

"Can you help her? Is there anything you can do?"

"Yeah, probably, if I had the time." The Doctor shrugged, standing up.

"The time?!"

"All of creation has just been wiped from the sky. Do you know how many lives now never happened? All the people who never lived? Your girlfriend isn't more important than the whole universe." Rory whipped The Doctor round and punched him, sending him flying to the ground.

"She is to me!" Rory shouted.

The Doctor burst into laughter and jumped back up, looking back at Rory, "Welcome back, Rory Williams! Sorry, had to be sure. Hell of a gun-arm you're packing there. Right, we need to get her downstairs. And take that look off your plastic face. You're getting married in the morning!"

* * *

"So you've got a plan, then?" Rory asked as The Doctor placed Amy inside of the Pandorica.

"Bit of a plan, yeah." The Doctor nodded. "Memories are more powerful than you think, and Amy Pond is not an ordinary girl. Grew up with a time crack in her wall. The universe pouring through her dreams every night. The Nestenes took a memory print of her and got more than they bargained for. Like you. Not just your face, but your heart and your soul." He placed his hands either side of Amy's face and closed his eyes. "I'm leaving her a message for when she wakes up, so she knows what's happening." He let go with a smile and shut the Pandorica using the sonic.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?" Rory demanded.

"Saving her. This is the ultimate prison. You can't even escape by dying. It forces you to stay alive."

"But she's already dead."

"Mostly dead. The Pandorica can stasis-lock her that way. All it needs is a scan of her living DNA and it'll restore her."

"Where's it going to get that?"

The Doctor lifted up his wrist, looking at his watch, "In about 2,000 years."

"You gave me this." Rory said, holding up the sonic. The Doctor reached over and picked up River's bag, took out the vortex manipulator and placed the bag on his shoulder. Rory stared at him, raising an eyebrow at him for picking up the bag.

"Totter will kill me if I don't bring it." The Doctor said, rolling his eyes.

"So," Rory said, gesturing desperately at the Pandorica. "She's going to be in that box for 2,000 years?!"

"Yeah, but we're taking a shortcut." The Doctor said, strapping on the vortex manipulator to his wrist. "River's vortex manipulator. Rubbish way to time travel, but the universe is tiny now. We'll be fine."

"So the future's still there, then? Our world?"

"A version of it. Not quite the one you know. Earth alone in the sky. Let's go and have a look." He held out his arm to Rory. "You put your hand there. Don't worry, should be safe."

"That's not what I'm worried about."

"She'll be fine. Nothing can get into this box."

"You got in there."

"Well, there's only one of me. I counted."

"This box needs a guard. I killed the last one." Rory said, glancing back over at the Cyberman with a sword gap in the middle of the armour.

"No. Rory, no. Don't even think about it."

"She'll be all alone."

"She won't feel it."

"You bet she won't!"

"2,000 years, Rory." The Doctor said urgently. "You won't even sleep, you'd be conscious every second. It would drive you mad."

"Will she be safer if I stay? Look me in the eye and tell me she wouldn't be safer."

The Doctor sighed, "Rory..."

"Answer me!"

"Yes. Obviously." He muttered.

"Then how could I leave her?"

"Why do you have to be so...human?"

"Because right now, I'm not." Rory said sadly before walking round to the other side of the Pandorica whilst The Doctor began to input coordinates into the vortex manipulator.

"Listen to me. This is the last bit of advice you're going to get in a very long time. You're living plastic, but not immortal. I have no idea how long you'll last. And you're not indestructible. Stay away from heat and radio signals when they come along." The Doctor said as Rory put on his helmet. "You can't heal, or repair yourself. Any damage is permanent. So, for God's sake, however bored you get, stay out of-" And then he disappeared.

* * *

"...Trouble." The Doctor reappeared in the museum. He glanced back one way to be faced with a Dalek. "Oh!" He said nervously before looking back the other way to see Amy and Amelia in front of the Pandorica. "Two of you? Complicated."

"Exterminate!" The Dalek exclaimed. "Weapons systems restoring."

The Doctor grabbed both Amy and Amelia's hands. "Come along, Ponds." He pulled them off round the Pandorica.

"Exterminate!"

The Doctor stopped at an alcove display representing North Africa, he stumbled into one of the mannequins, taking a fez from it's head and putting it on, turning back around to look at both Ponds.

"What are we doing?" Amy asked.

"Running into a dead end," The Doctor said. "Where I'll have a brilliant plan, that basically involves not being in one." The three of them hid round the side of the Pandorica as a night watchman appeared with a torch behind the Dalek.

"What's going on?" The watchman asked.

"Get out of here." The Doctor said to Amy. "Go! Just run!" She shook her head at him as the Dalek turned to the watchman.

"Drop the device." The Dalek demanded.

"It's not a weapon." The Doctor called over. "Scan it. It's not a weapon, and you don't have the power to waste!"

"Scans indicate intruder unarmed."

"Do you think?" The watchman dropped the torch and his hand opened up to reveal the gun, before he fire at the Dalek's eyestalk.

"Vision impaired! Vision..." The Dalek died down and the watchman moved out of the shadows as Amy, Amelia and The Doctor moved out from round the Pandorica.

"Amy?"

Amy looked over at the watchman, to see it was Rory. "Rory!" She gasped. She ran towards him, hugging him tightly as he half span her round.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. It just happened."

"Oh, Shut up." She said, pulling back and kissing him.

"Yeah, shut up," The Doctor said, popping up in between them. "Cos we've got to go. Come on!"

"I waited." Rory gasped. "2,000 years, I waited for you."

"No, still shut up." Amy said, giving him a long kiss.

"And break!" The Doctor said. "And breathe! Well, somebody didn't get out much for 2,000 years."

Young Amelia, that everyone had seemed to forget about, tugged on The Doctor's sleeve. "I'm thirsty. Can I get a drink?"

"Oh, it's all mouths today, isn't it?!" He took off the fez and put it on her head, only for her to shove it back at him. The Doctor frowned and looked back at the Dalek. "The light! The light from the Pandorica, it must have hit the Dalek." Suddenly, the Dalek laser gun began to shuffle. "Out, out, out!" He rushed Amy and Rory out and grabbed Amelia's hand, pulling her out. Rory slammed the door behind them and The Doctor soniced it locked before turning back to his three companions. "So, 2,000 years. How did you do?"

"Kept out of trouble." Rory shrugged.

"Oh." The Doctor said, glancing at the fez on his head before placing it on his head. "How?"

"Unsuccessfully." The Doctor picked up a mop, about to block the door.

"The mop!" Rory exclaimed. "That's how you looked all those years ago when you gave me the sonic."

"Ah! Well, no time to lose then." He nodded before teleporting off and reappearing again. "Oops, sorry." He quickly placed the mop through the door handles.

"How can he do that?" Amelia asked Amy. "Is he magic?" She frowned before The Doctor teleported away again, just to reappear seconds later. "Right, let's go then." He began to ran up the stairs before turning back to look at Amy, Rory and Amelia. "Wait! Now I don't have the sonic, I just gave it Rory 2,000 years ago." And then he disappeared again, and then was back again moments later. "Right then." He reached forward into Amy's jacket and took out the sonic. "Off we go! No, hang on." He looked down to Amelia. "How did you know to come here?" Amelia reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a pamphlet and a sticky note with The Doctor's handwriting. "Ah, my handwriting. OK!" He bolted back down the stairs to a stand, grabbed a pamphlet and a sticky note before teleporting off. And then moments later, he reappeared and thrusted a drink into Amelia's hand. "There you go, drink up!"

"What is that?" Amy asked. "How are you doing that?"

"Vortex manipulator..." The Doctor said, holding up his wrist to show it to her. "Cheap and nasty time travel. Very bad for you. I'm trying to give it up." He nodded at the three of them one last time before heading back up the stairs again.

"Where are we going?"

"The roof."

There was a flash of light at the top of the landing at Totter appeared, burns all of her face, hair, and clothing. She stumbled slightly and fell down the stairs, rolling to a stop. The Doctor pushed Rory roughly as he bolted towards her. He knelt down and gripped her tightly, scanning the sonic over her.

"Doctor, it's Totts. How can it be her?" Rory asked.

"Doctor, is that her?"

"Yeah, it's her. Totter from the future." The Doctor nodded, placing a hand on her face. Totter's eyes flew open and she sat up, grabbing The Doctor's lapels and whispering in his ear before falling back. The Doctor grabbed her lower back quickly and gently lowered her to the floor. He gently placed a kiss on her forehead and sighed, looking back at Rory and Amy.

"Is she dead?" Amy asked.

"What?" The Doctor asked, distractedly, getting up. "Dead? Yes, yes. Of course she's dead." He climbed over her and carried up the stairs. "Right, she's got 12 minutes, that's good."

"12 minutes to live? How is that good?"

"You can do loads in 12 minutes... suck a mint, buy a sledge, have a fast bath. Come on, the roof!"

"We can't leave her here, dead." Rory said.

"Oh, good!" The Doctor said, looking back at Rory and Amy. "Are you in charge now? So, tell me, what are we going to do about Amelia?" Rory turned round in shock to find Amelia had gone. He glanced down at the cup she was holding, lying on the floor.

"Where did she go?" Amy asked as she and Rory ran down the steps, looking round for Amelia.

"Amelia?" Rory called.

"There is no Amelia." The Doctor said regretfully. "From now on, there never was. History is still collapsing."

"How can I be here, if she's not?" Amy frowned.

"You're an anomaly. We all are. We're all hanging on at the eye of the storm, but the eye is closing, and if we don't do something, reality will never have happened. Today, just dying is a result. Now, come on!"

"MOVE!" A voice shouted. They looked back to the landing to find a second Doctor walking round the corner and towards Totter.

"But-" The first Doctor began.

"Just go!" The first Doctor nodded before running past his future self.

"She won't die." Amy said, shaking her head as Rory took off his jacket. "Time can be rewritten. He'll find a way to save her. I know he will." Rory sighed and covered Totter over with his jacket.

"Move it. Come on!" The first Doctor shouted back. Amy and Rory nodded at the future Doctor before running past him.

* * *

The three of them climbed onto the roof, looking out at the daylight.

"What, it's morning already?" Amy asked as they walked across the roof. "How did that happen?"

"History is shrinking. Is anybody listening to me?" The Doctor asked. "The Universe is collapsing. We don't have much time left." He walked over to a satellite dish and soniced it.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked.

"Looking for the TARDIS."

"But the TARDIS exploded."

"OK, then. I'm looking for an exploding TARDIS." The Doctor said sarcastically, pulling out the satellite dish from its mounting.

"I don't understand." Amy frowned. "So, the TARDIS blew up and took the universe with it. Why would it do that? How?"

The Doctor stood up on the raised section of the roof, looking out across the surface, "Good question for another day. But for now... total event collapse means that every star in the universe never happened. Not one of them ever shone. So, if all the stars that ever were are gone, then what is that?" He pointed up at what Amy and Rory thought was the sun. "Like I said, I'm looking for an exploding TARDIS."

"But that's the sun." Rory said.

"Is it? Here's the noise that sun is making right now." He held up the dish and amplified the sound of The TARDIS with the sonic. "That's my TARDIS burning up. That's what's been keeping the Earth warm."

"Doctor, there's something else. There's a voice." Rory said, listening intently.

"I can't hear anything." Amy said as The Doctor changed the sonic settings.

"Trust the plastic." Rory said, pointing to his ear. The Doctor soniced the satellite and River and Totter's voices came through.

"I'm sorry, my love. River, you have to explain!" River and Totter's voice kept repeating.

"Doctor, that's River and Totter." Amy said. "How can she be up there?"

"It must be like a recording or something." Rory frowned.

"No, it's not a recording." The Doctor said, shaking his head. "Of course, the emergency protocols... The TARDIS has sealed off the control room and put her into a time loop to save her. She is right at the heart of the explosion."

* * *

"You have to explain, River!" Totter begged as River ran towards the door. She stopped abruptly as The Doctor appeared in front of the door.

"Hi, honey. I'm home."

"And what sort of time do you call this?" River and Totter asked in unison.

* * *

The Doctor reappeared on the roof, Totter and River on each arm.

"Amy!" River exclaimed. "Rory! No longer a plastic centurion?"

"RORY!" Totter shouted, running towards Rory and throwing her arms around him.

"Totts." He laughed, squeezing her back.

"I have missed you." She giggled, pulling back and placing a quick kiss to his cheek before looking back at River.

"I dated a Nestene duplicate once..." River said. "Swappable head, it did keep things fresh." She turned and looked at The Doctor. "Right then, I have questions. But number one is this... What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?"

"It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool." The Doctor shrugged.

"I like it." Totter said with an innocent smile. River glanced over at Amy before the ginger grabbed the fez and threw it into the sky and River shot it.

"Oh!" The Doctor frowned.

"Exterminate!" Suddenly, the Dalek appeared, levitating up the side of the building.

"Run, run, move, move. Go! Come on!" The Doctor pulled Totter back by her waist, protecting both them and River with the satellite before they climbed back down the stairwell.

The Doctor soniced up the seal to the hatch as River stood behind him, gun aimed at it.

"Doctor, come on." River hissed.

"Shh. It's moving away, finding another way in." The two of them climbed down the ladder and turned back to Amy, Totter and Rory. "It needs to restore its power before it can attack again. Now, that means we've got exactly," He glanced at his watch. "Four and a half minutes before it's at lethal capacity." He pushed past them and continued down the stairs.

"How do you know?" Rory asked.

"Because that's when it's due to kill Totter." The Doctor looked back at Totter with a smile, "By the way, a Dalek is going to kill you."

"Ok." Totter nodded innocently.

"Kill her? What do you mean, kill her?" River gasped.

"Oh, shut up, never mind." The Doctor said, taking Totter's hand. "How can that Dalek even exist?" He asked as they walked through the hallway. "It was erased from time and then it came back. How?"

"You said the light from the Pandorica..." Rory said.

"It's not a light, it's a restoration field, but never mind. Call it a light. That light brought Amy back, but how could it bring back a Dalek when the Daleks have never existed?"

"OK, tell us." Amy said.

"When the TARDIS blew up, it caused a total event collapse. A time explosion. It blasted every atom in every moment of the universe." Totter said, not sure what was really going on.

The Doctor grinned at her, realising, although Totter had no idea what she had said had made him realise. "Except..." The Doctor said.

"Except inside the Pandorica." Amy said in realisation.

"The perfect prison. Inside it, perfectly preserved, a few billion atoms of the universe as it was. In theory, you could extrapolate the whole universe from a single one of them, like cloning a body from a single cell. And we've got the bumper family pack."

"No, too fast, I'm not getting it." Rory said, shaking his head.

"The box contains a memory of the universe, and the light transmits the memory. And that's how we're going to do it."

"Do what?" Amy asked.

"Relight the fire. Reboot the universe." He grinned, gave Totter a quick kiss before pulling her off. "Come on!" He called back to his three companions as he hissed a quick plan to Totter.

"Doctor, you're being completely ridiculous." River shouted as they walked after him. "The Pandorica partially restored one Dalek. If it can't even reboot a single life form properly, how will it reboot the whole of reality?"

"What if we give it a moment of infinite power? Transmit the light from the Pandorica to every particle of space and time simultaneously?"

"Well, that would be lovely, dear, but we can't, because it's completely impossible." River laughed.

"Ah, no, you see, it's not." He gave her a quick tap on the forehead. "It's ALMOST completely impossible. One spark is all we need."

"For what?"

"Big Bang Two!" The Doctor whispered. "Now listen..." Totter looked over shoulder to see the Dalek. She pushed him out of the way, stepping in front of the laser as the Dalek shot at him.

The Doctor and River jumped down to Totter's side as Rory pulled Amy out of the way.

"Get back. Doctor, River, get back now!" Rory shouted.

"Exterminate!" The Dalek screeched before Rory's hand dropped and he fired at the Dalek, draining its energy.

"Totter, it's me, River. Can you hear me? What is it? What do you need?" River asked as The Doctor took Totter's wrist and pressed coordinates into the vortex manipulator, making them both disappear. "Where did they go? Damn it, they could be anywhere."

"He went downstairs." Amy said. "12 minutes ago."

"Show me!"

"River, she died."

"Systems restoring!" The Dale screeched. "You will be exterminated!"

"We've got to move." Rory said. "That thing's coming back to life."

"You go to the Doctor and Totter. I'll be right with you."

* * *

The Doctor glanced back at past Amy and Rory, running after his past self before pulling back Rory's jacket and kneeling down next to Totter. He leaned down and kissed her, smiling in the kiss as she felt her kiss him back.

"You alright?" The Doctor asked quietly as he wrapped Totter's arms round his neck and put one arm round her back and the other under her knees, picking her up.

"Weak." She croaked, leaning her head against his chest. "I love your double heartbeat."

"Ssh." He whispered, heading towards the Pandorica room.

"I love you." She mumbled.

"Don't talk, you're weak." He said, running towards the Pandorica and placing her in the chair.

"We're not going to get out of this." She whispered, turning in the chair, curling up as The Doctor took off the vortex manipulator and began to wire it into the Pandorica.

"Hey, of course we are."

"Theta." Totter whispered. The Doctor turned back to her at the mention of his name.

"Totts." He muttered, placing a hand on her cheek. "I can tell the whole universe you're my wife, but you're not. I just assumed it."

"That doesn't matter now, does it?" Totter sighed.

"When we get out of this, you're marrying me, ok?" She stared at him in shock as he smirked at her. "Take that as a yes." He leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss.

* * *

"How could she have moved?" Rory asked as he and Amy ran down the staircase to find no sign of The Doctor and Totter. "She was dead!" He exclaimed, running down the stairs. "Doctor? Totter?"

"But she was dead!" Amy said.

"Who told you that?" River asked, walking in.

"The Doctor did."

"Rule one." River said, walking down past them. "The Doctor lies."

"Where's the Dalek?"

"It died."

* * *

"Doctor!" Amy shouted as she, River and Rory ran towards the Pandorica.

"Why did he tell us he was dead?" Rory asked as River jumped into the Pandorica to to find The Doctor sitting inside the Pandorica with Totter, now passed out, laying across his lap as he punched coordinates into the vortex manipulator.

"We were a diversion." Amy said as her and Rory watched from outside the Pandorica. "Long as the Dalek was chasing us, he could work down here."

"What are you doing?" River asked.

"What's happening?" Rory asked.

"Reality's collapsing. It's speeding up. Look at this room." River said, pointing out at the empty displays.

"Where did everything go?" Amy frowned.

"History is being erased. Time is running out. Doctor, what are you doing?"

"Big... Bang... Two." The Doctor muttered slowly, making sure the wires were all fixed in.

"The Big Bang. That's the beginning of the universe, right?" Rory asked.

"What, and Big Bang Two is the bang that brings it back?" Amy asked cautiously. "Is that what you mean?"

"Oh!" River gasped.

"What?"

River span round and looked back at Amy and Rory, "The TARDIS is still burning. It's exploding at every point in history. If you threw the Pandorica into the explosion, right into the heart of the fire..."

"Then what?"

"Then let there be light. The light from the Pandorica would explode everywhere at once, just like he said."

"That would work? That would bring everything back?"

"A restoration field, powered by an exploding TARDIS, happening at every moment in history. Oh, that's brilliant. It might even work!" The Doctor shoved the sonic into River's hand and began to check Totter over. "You've wired the vortex manipulator to the rest of the box." River said, running the sonic over the wires as The Doctor gave her a small nod.

"Why?"

"So they can take it with them."

"I'm going to fly the Pandorica into the heart of the explosion." The Doctor said darkly, clutching his grip on Totter tightly.

* * *

"Are you OK?" Rory asked as he and Amy looked over at the Pandorica as the sun expanded, turning the whole room orange.

"Are you?"

"No."

"Well, shut up then!" Amy snapped. Rory stared at her sympathetically, taking her into a hug as River stepped out of the Pandorica.

"Amy... He wants to talk to you." River said.

Amy pulled away from the hug, looking over at River, "So, what happens here? Big Bang Two? What happens to us?"

"We all wake up where we ought to be. None of this ever happens and we don't remember it."

"River... tell me they come back, too."

"The Doctor and Totter will be the heart of the explosion." River gulped.

"So?"

"So all the cracks in time will close, but they'll be on the wrong side... Trapped in the never-space, the void between the worlds. All memory of them will be purged from the universe. They will never have been born. Now, please. The Doctor wants to talk to you before they go."

"Not to you?"

"They don't really know me yet. Now they never will." River said sadly, wiping a tear away as Amy approached the Pandorica.

"Hi."

"Amy Pond." The Doctor said sadly, brushing a strand of hair away from Totter's face. "The girl who waited. All night in your garden. Was it worth it?"

"Shut up. Of course it was." Amy said, laughing sadly.

"You asked me why I was taking you with me and I said..."No reason". I was lying."

"It's not important."

"Yeah, it's the most important thing left in the universe. It's why I'm doing this. Amy, your house was too big. That big, empty house. And just you."

"And Aunt Sharon."

"Where were your mum and dad? Where was... everybody who lived in that big house? "

"I lost my Mum and Dad."

"How? What happened to them? Where did they go?"

"I... I don't..."

"It's OK. Don't panic. It's not your fault."

"I don't even remember." Amy said, shaking her head.

"There was a crack in time in the wall of your bedroom and it's been eating away at your life for a long time now. Amy Pond, all alone. The girl who didn't make sense. How could I resist?"

"How could I just forget?"

"Nothing is ever forgotten, not really. But you have to try." Suddenly, the ground began to shake.

"Doctor! It's speeding up!" River shouted.

"There's going to be a very big bang." The Doctor said as Amy took the sonic of the side and placed it in Totter's pocket. "Big Bang Two. Try and remember your family and they'll be there."

"How can I remember them if they never existed?"

"Because... you're special. That crack in your wall, all that time, the universe pouring into your head. You brought Rory back...you can bring them back, too. You just remember, and they'll be there."

"YOU two won't." Amy said, began to back away.

"You'll have your family back. You won't need your imaginary friend any more." He laughed weakly, squeezing tightly onto Totter. "Amy Pond... crying over us, eh? Guess what?"

"What?"

"Gotcha." The Pandorica closed and The Doctor grabbed the spare PDA, typing out Geronimo, and laughing as the Pandorica flew away.

* * *

The Doctor walked around the console, wearing the wedding suit he'd fished out of the wardrobe, pulling controls before looking over at the jump seat where Totter sat, still unconscious.

Then she sat up with a gasp. She blinked a few times and looked over at The Doctor with a grin.

"We survived then?" Totter laughed.

The Doctor nodded, "Yep. And I had to deal with all the flashbacks, whilst you got to have a little sleep." He jumped over to her and pulled her up, placing a kiss on her lips. "What do you think of this suit?"

Totter smiled, stroking The Doctor's scarf gently "Only the best for our Ponds."

* * *

"Is this ok?" Totter asked, gesturing to her long, silky purple dress that matched her hair.

The Doctor gave a quick nod as she pinned up her hair into a bun and he pulled her hand towards the door and opened it up to be met by Amy and Rory behind her, in the middle of the wedding.

"Did I surprise you?" Amy asked.

"Er, yeah. Completely astonished. Never expected that. How lucky I happened to be wearing this old thing." He stepped out of The TARDIS and walked up to Amy's father. Totter smiled over at Amy and Rory as she shut The TARDIS. "Hello, everyone. I'm Amy's imaginary friend, but I came anyway." The Doctor smiled at Augustus, Amy's father, and shook his hand.

"You absolutely, definitely may kiss the bride." Amy sad.

"Amelia!" The Doctor said, placing a fingers on Amy's lips. "From now on, I shall be leaving the... kissing duties to the brand new Mr Pond." He turned and shook Rory's hand as Amy looked back and gave Totter a smile, letting her know she was kidding.

"No, I'm not Mr Pond." Rory said. "That's not how it works."

"Yeah, it is." The Doctor and Totter said in unison.

"Yeah, it is." Rory said in defeat.

"Right then, everyone." The Doctor said to the whole wedding. "I'll move my box. You're going to need the space." He stepped into The TARDIS again, before looking back at Amy, Rory and Totter. "I only came for the dancing."

* * *

"2,000 years." The Doctor said as he stood, leant against the door frame with his arms wrapped around Totter's waist. "The boy who waited. Good on you, mate." He placed a kiss on Totter's head before grabbing her hand and pulling her off.

* * *

The Doctor and Totter walked through Amy's garden hand in hand towards the TARDIS. The Doctor smiled at the woman he was going to marry before slotting the key into the lock of The TARDIS door.

"Did you dance?" They turned round to see River standing under the archway, smiling at them. "Well, you always dance at weddings, don't you?"

"You tell us." The Doctor said.

"Spoilers." River smirked.

The Doctor smiled at her, handing her over her journal and her vortex manipulator. "The writing's all back, but I didn't peek." Totter raised an eyebrow at him. "Ok, Totter made sure I didn't peek."

"Thank you."

"Are you married, River?"

"Are you asking?" River asked as she strapped on the vortex manipulator.

"Yes."

"Yes."

The Doctor frowned, "No, hang on. Did you think I was asking you to marry me, o- o-or asking if you were married?" Totter smiled and shook her head, taking The Doctor's hand.

"Yes."

"No, but was that "yes", or "yes"?"

"Yes." River said, looking over and sharing a smile with Totter.

"River...who are you?" Both River and Totter's face dropped.

"You're going to find out very soon now." River said sadly. "And I'm sorry, but that's when everything changes." She pressed a button on the vortex manipulator and disappeared.

"Nah." The Doctor said, shaking his head and stepping into the TARDIS. Totter stayed where she was, before River reappeared.

"You said I was your sister." Totter said, confused.

"You'll find out soon, I promise." River sighed, placing a kiss on her cheek before teleporting off again. Totter smiled at the thin air before stepping into The TARDIS. She trotted up to the console and placed a kiss on The Doctor's cheek when the door opened and Amy walked in.

"Oi! Where are you off to?" Amy asked as Rory walked in behind her, shutting the door. "We haven't even had a snog in the shrubbery yet."

"Amy!" Rory exclaimed.

"Shut up... it's my wedding." Amy muttered, walking up to the console.

"OUR wedding." Rory pointed out before following her up to the console.

"Sorry, you two..." Totter said. "We shouldn't have slipped away. Bit busy, you know?"

"You just saved the whole of space and time. Take the evening off. Maybe a bit of tomorrow."

"Space and time isn't safe yet." The Doctor said. "The TARDIS exploded for a reason. Something drew the TARDIS to this particular date, and blew it up." The TARDIS phone began to ring. "Why? And why now? The silence, whatever it is, is still out there, and I have to...Excuse me a moment." He rolled his eyes and answered the phone. "Hello. Oh! Hello. I'm sorry, this is a very bad line. No, but that's not possible. She was sealed into the Seventh Obelisk. I was at the prayer meeting. Well, no, I get that it's important. An Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express…in space! Give us a mo." He took the phone away and turned to Amy and Rory. "Sorry, something's come up. This will have to be goodbye."

"Yeah, I think it's goodbye. Do you think it's goodbye?" Amy asked Rory.

"Definitely goodbye." Rory nodded. Amy gave a smile before walking up to the door and opening it.

"Goodbye! Goodbye." Amy shouted out, waving out before shutting the door.

The Doctor smiled and turned back to the phone. "Don't worry about a thing, Your Majesty. We're on our way." He hung up as Totter ran round the console, sending The TARDIS in motion.

**A/N - So there we go! This is the second to last chapter! There's a little explanation to The Doctor and Totter's relationship, although there's going to be more explanation during the Impossible Astronaut/Day Of Moon. The name of the next story will be on the next chapter, the new story for series 6! Please Review! :)**


	8. Death Of The Doctor

"That's your idea?" Totter asked as The Doctor span round, looking across the red planet they were stuck on. "To use a human boy through artron energy. He could be busy! Like... well, whatever human boys do. Sarah Jane will kill you!"

"Sarah Jane won't mind." The Doctor shrugged. "Anyway, she'll be there for our funeral."

"And you'll be landing inside of UNIT." The Doctor span round and looked at her with a grin, placing a kiss on her nose.

"_You'll _be landing right inside of UNIT."

Totter's eyes grew wider, "You're kidding."

"Come on, you get to see Sarah Jane first!"

"I hate you." She grumbled.

The Doctor smirked, "No you don't."

* * *

"...that means The Doctor and The TARDIS are still alive!" Jo Grant cheered, high-fiving Sarah Jane.

"Of course we're still alive Jo, I'd of thought that was obvious, catch up." Totter's voice said through Clyde as Rani and Santiago, Jo's grandson, watched from behind the two older women.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Clyde is that you?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Course it's not, it's me! I'm using Clyde as a receiver, I've keyed into his residual artron energy so I can organise a very complicated biological swap across 10,000 light years. Hold on." Clyde began to squirm, blue electric covering him and he groaned in pain before he gasped and the electric disappeared.

"That wasn't me." Clyde said nervously. "That wasn't me, speaking. I'm getting all..." He looked down in shock and raised his hand to see it was now white, and thinner with carefully painted purple nails. "That's not my hand. My hand's not white." He suddenly screamed out and began to squirm again as the blue electricity covered him. The body swap began to transform, changing from Totter to Clyde a few times before Totter stumbled back with a gasp, smiling at them.

"Good." Totter laughed, staring at them. "Right, well... Gosh that was different. Hello." She grinned, waving at them.

"Who are you?" Rani asked rudely. "Where's Clyde?"

"Come on Rani, use you're brain, me and Clyde have swapped places, I'm where he was and he's where I was which means right now... Ooh, he's in a lot of trouble. And with The Doctor." She winced slightly. "Even worse."

"You bring him back, whoever you are!" Rani shouted.

"No, no, no, no, Rani, don't you see?" Sarah Jane gasped, grabbing the girl's arm although her gaze never left Totter, "Can't you feel it Jo?" Jo didn't budge though, just staring back at the purple haired woman. "I can. She's The TARDIS."

"Hello Sarah Jane." Totter grinned.

"That's The TARDIS?" Rani asked curiously.

"I actually go by Totter now."

Sarah Jane blinked in shock, "As in Totter's Lane?"

"The very same."

"Everyone!" Santiago interrupted, tapping his grandmother's arm. "Meanwhile!" The four humans span around and looked over to see the Shansheeth advancing towards them.

"Ah." Totter said, pushing through them and walking towards the Shansheeth. "Yes, the claw Shansheeth of the 15th funeral fleet. I've been looking for you. Have you been telling people me and my fiancée are dead?"

"I apologize." One of the Shansheeth said. "The death notice was released a little too soon."

Totter looked back at Sarah Jane, Jo, Rani and Santiago with an innocent smile. "It always is." She shrugged before looking back at the big ostrich type aliens.

"Though I can rectify this, immediately." The bird raised its hand and shot out a beam that hit Totter straight in the chest and she began to scream in pain as she collapsed to the floor whilst the humans watched in shock. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Totter. Rest. In. Peace."

Suddenly, Totter disappeared, only for her to be replaced with Clyde.

Clyde looked round, confused. "I was on a planet, and The Doctor was there."

"Never mind that, run!" Sarah Jane ordered. Clyde looked back in shock as the Shansheeth headed towards him before running after Sarah Jane.

Sarah Jane held open the door for everyone and they ran in, before The Doctor and Totter bolted through, only for Sarah Jane to realise that Clyde was once again, gone.

"Come along Smith!" The Doctor shouted over his shoulder. Sarah Jane looked at him in shock before running through and shutting the metal door behind her. "In, in, in, in!" The Doctor ordered, pushing them all into the next door, the rooms the humans were staying in. "Right," The Doctor said, leaning against the door frame.

"LOOK!" Totter said, jumping up and down in joy and making The Doctor lose his concentration. "Jo Grant!" She giggled, pointing at Jo.

"Sonic lipstick." The Doctor said to Sarah Jane, giving Totter a quick smile.

"Haven't got the screwdriver?" Sarah Jane asked.

"They took it." Sarah Jane rolled her eyes and took out the lipstick and locked the door. "And yes, I know, new face, we'll talk about that later. Rani, Jo." He nodded at the both of them before looking at Santiago. "Other boy."

"My grandson, Santiago." Jo said, laughing nervously.

"Right, I need you, Sarah, and you, Jo." The Doctor took Jo and Totter's hand and Totter grabbed Sarah Jane's.

"Need us for what?"

"Remember the old days when we used to go zooming off to faraway worlds?" He asked before they disappeared in a blue light.

* * *

"No, let's get you working properly!" The Doctor said, turning back to the machine he was working on as Jo and Sarah Jane stared across the red planet in awe.

"Where are we?" Sarah Jane asked.

"The wasteland of the crimson heart." Totter said, turning both women around to face her and The Doctor. "Planet Earth's that way. Bit of a walk."

"Wow." Jo said, walking around The Doctor and across the planet slowly as Sarah Jane handed The Doctor the sonic lipstick. "So many years since I stood on another planet."

"Me too." Sarah Jane said. The Doctor looked up and Totter, giving a small laugh.

* * *

"There." The Doctor said, pointing to Sarah Jane where to sonic as Jo watched from a rock a few feet away with Totter sitting cross legged next to The Doctor. "And there."

"Did it hurt?" Sarah Jane asked.

The Doctor gave her a look, holding up a wire. "And there." She quickly soniced it.

"I mean the regeneration. That last body of yours. Was he ok?"

"It always hurts." The Doctor said eventually, pointing to a wire. "And there."

"So how did you end up in this place?" Sarah Jane asked.

"The Shansheeth lured us." Totter shrugged. "Mighty old battlefield, just begging to be explored."

The Doctor nodded in agreement, "Cause I'm travelling with Amy now, and Rory! They got married. So, dropped them off at a honeymoon planet, which isn't what you think, it's not a planet for a honeymoon, it's a planet on a honeymoon, it married an asteroid."

"And then they nicked Mother." Totter said, frowning to herself slightly, making Jo and Sarah Jane eye her oddly.

"The Shansheeth." The Doctor reassured them, laughing at their expressions. "Not Amy and Rory, fortunately I had all this wreckage to build a space whopping do da thinga ma whatsit."

"So you've got a married couple in the TARDIS?" Jo asked.

"Mr. and Mrs. Pond." Totter grinned proudly.

"I only left you because I got married." Jo sighed.

"And there…" The Doctor muttered, holding out a wire for Sarah Jane to sonic.

"Did you think I was stupid?"

The Doctor looked up, blinking at Jo. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, I was a bit dumb. Still am I suppose."

Totter got up and bounded over to the woman, sitting down next to her. "Now what in the world would make you think that ever, ever, ever?" Totter asked.

"We'd been travelling down the Amazon for months and we'd reached a village in Cristalina and it was the only place for thousands of miles that had a telephone." Jo sighed. "So I called you. I just wanted to say hello. And they told me that you'd left, left UNIT, never came back. So I waited, I waited, because you said you'd see me again. You did. I asked you and you said yes. You promised. So I thought, one day I'd hear that sound deep in the jungle, I'd hear that funny wheezing noise and a big blue box right in the middle of the rain forest. 'Cos, see, he wouldn't just leave, not forever. Not me. I waited my whole silly life."

"Oh, but you're an idiot!" The Doctor groaned.

"Well there we have it." Jo shrugged

"No, no, no but don't you see?" Totter asked. "How could I ever find you? You spent the past 40 years living in huts, climbing up trees, tearing down barricades. You've done everything from flying kites on Kilimanjaro to sailing down the Yangtze in a tea chest. Not even mother could pin you down."

"Hold on." Jo said, looking up at the two of them. "I did sail down the Yangtze in a tea chest. How did you know?"

"And that family," The Doctor grinned. "All 7 kids, 12 grandchildren, 13th on his way, he's dyslexic but that'll be fine. Great swimmer."

"So you've been watching me, all this time?"

"No, because you're right I don't look back, I can't." The Doctor admitted. "But the last time I was dying I looked back on all of you, every single one, and I was so proud."

"It really is you, isn't it?"

"Hello!"

"Sorry," Sarah Jane called over. "But we've got that lot back at home with the Shansheeth."

"Yes, yes and uh I still need you Jo." The Doctor said, getting up and pulling Totter to her feet. "Now that bag of yours I can smell black currant is it buchu oil?"

Jo nodded, standing up and pulling out a small bottle from her bag, handing it over to The Doctor. "Handpicked in Mozambique."

"Perfect!" The Doctor grinned, pouring it onto the device. "These circuits need connectivity. Wonderful! Little tiddly drop. That's it! What a team!" He laughed before giving the device a once. "There! That should work! Intergalactic molecular streaming with just a hint of black currant."

"Oh, but what'll happen to Clyde?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Oh, no, no, no. I fixed it. All I needed was you two. Oil and sonic. Now we can go back and Clyde can stay where he is." Both he and Totter took their hands. "Hold tight!"

* * *

The four of them reappeared back in UNIT, outside a vent.

"Get us out of here!" Clyde called out.

"Sarah Jane!" Rani shouted.

"Doctor!" Santiago called.

"Whoops!" Totter winced. "Then again, maybe leaving Clyde in the same place wasn't such a good idea."

"Look out!" Sarah Jane called back to the teenagers. "Stand back!" And with a clatter, the vent cover fell to the floor.

"Ah!" The Doctor grinned at Totter. "Ventilation shaft, that takes us back.

"Or even forwards." Totter added, climbing into the vent after The Doctor.

"Hurry up!" Santiago shouted. "We're getting boiled alive!"

"Hold on! We're coming!" The Doctor shouted as he and Totter shuffled down the vent.

"Doctor!" Rani shouted.

"Jo? Sarah?" Totter called back.

"They're roasting us!" Clyde called desperately.

"Let us out!" Rani shouted.

"Sarah?" Totter called back. She shook her head with a sigh before shuffling after The Doctor. She eventually caught up with him, stopped outside a red wall fiddling with some wires hanging out of it. "You know," She began, eyeing up the sight in front of her, that being his bum, to put it tastefully. "Out of all your incarnation's, this one has the best arse."

"Do you mind?" The Doctor muttered.

"Frankly, no." She grinned.

"And release!" The Doctor put the wires together, making the wall turn green and the wall open up.

"Blimey!" Clyde exclaimed, climbing out of the small room they were trapped in. "You really have changed faces haven't you? I couldn't see you before I was too busy swapping."

"Oi!" Rani called. "We're still cooking back here."

"Where's my Gran?" Santiago asked.

"Right, yes, sorry, uh, she's in danger so we better uh," He began to shift.

"Can't turn 'round." Totter told him.

"You have to shuffle backwards." Clyde said.

"Oh, yes, ok, thank you Clyde." Totter nodded and both her and The Doctor shuffled backwards with the teenagers and the Groske following.

"Even your eyes are different!" Clyde said, observing The Doctor carefully. "It's weird 'cos I thought the eyes would stay the same. Can you change color or are you always white?"

"No, I can be anything." The Doctor replied.

"And is there a limit? I mean, how many times can you change?"

"507."

"Oh."

"This is Totter by the way," The Doctor said, nodding back at Totter. "She's my fiancée."

"You're getting married?" Clyde asked. "I could never imagine you getting married."

"Oi!" Totter called, climbing out the end of the vent before helping the Doctor out.

* * *

The five of them ran up to the funeral room door to find it sealed.

"Oh they've sealed it off!" The Doctor groaned, banging on the door. "Jo, Sarah can you hear me?"

"They want the key!" Sarah Jane shouted from inside. "They've got the TARDIS and a memory weave!"

"Try and find a way in!" The Doctor said. They all began banging at the door as The Doctor bolted over to the electronic controls at the side of the door, fiddling with them.

"There's nothing!" Santiago said as The Doctor got up, finding nothing, and headed back over to the door. "We're gonna need a bulldozer!"

"I've got the original here you can have it if let them go!" He called through, sighing and looking back at Totter. "The key, not you."

"It's not shifting!" Clyde shouted, picking up a fire extinguisher and ramming it against the door. "What do we do Doctor? What do we do?"

"Yes, because the Shansheeth are making them remember." The Doctor said, sharing a look with Totter.

"I know!"

"But don't you see?"

"I don't see anything!"

"We do the same," Totter said, running back over to the controls at the side of the door and hitting a button. "Opening comms. Yes! Sarah, Jo, can you hear me?"

"The key! It's almost ready!" Sarah Jane shouted.

"Listen to me both of you. I want you to remember." The Doctor called through the door.

"We are doing it." Jo gasped. "That's the trouble."

"No, no, no, I want you to remember everything. Every single day with me. Every single second."

"Because your memories are more powerful than anything else on this planet." Totter agreed, sharing a loving smile with The Doctor. "Just think of it Sarah, remember it Jo. But properly, properly. Give the memory weave everything. Every planet, every face, every mad man, every loss, every sunset, every scent, every terror, every joy, every Doctor. Every version of the man I'm marrying.

"I remember." Sarah Jane gulped.

"Memory weave overloading." The computer announced.

"I remember!" Jo gasped.

"The device is overloading." One of the Shansheeth exclaimed. "Too many memories. Too many!"

"Come on! All of you!" The Doctor encouraged the teenagers. "Tell them! Tell them!"

"Think of us Sarah Jane!" Clyde shouted through the door. "Remember Maria and her dad. And all the stuff we did. Like the gorgon."

"And the clown!" Rani added. "And the zodiac. And the Mona Lisa!"

"Just think Gran!" Santiago called. "All the countries you've been to!"

"Weave starting self-destruct." The computer announced.

"We've broke a circuit!" Sarah Jane shouted to them.

"Now we're in trouble." The Doctor said, protectively grabbing onto Totter. "The weave's gonna to blow up and we can't get them out."

Rani looked at him in shock, "What?"

"Doctor! Doctor! We can't get out!" Sarah Jane shouted.

Totter bolted forward, yanking on the doors. "I can't open it." Totter said, looking back at The Doctor.

"No sonic screwdriver."

"It's inside the TARDIS." The Doctor replied.

"And we can't get in 'cos guess what? We stopped ourselves getting the key. Oh that was clever."

"I just want to say, I'm so glad I saw you again." Jo said. "I waited all this time and it was worth it. Every second. And I even got to meet The TARDIS in person! Funny thing is though, your funeral turns out to be ours instead."

"My funeral." The Doctor said, sharing a look with Totter.

"Doctor, all of you, you'll look after Luke for me please?" Sarah Jane asked.

"No, no no no! But listen! My funeral! Don't you see! It's my funeral!"

"With a lead lined coffin!" Sarah Jane and Jo exclaimed in unison.

"Yes!" The Doctor called before looking down at the Groske. "How much time have they got?"

"Big bang. 10 seconds." The Groske replied.

"Come on!" The Doctor said, grabbing Totter and pulling her down the hallway with the teenagers as the Groske watched the doors.

"10, 9, 8…"

"Critical destruction imminent." The computer announced.

"7, 6…"

"Hurry up Groske!" Santiago called from round the corner at the end of the corridor.

"5, 4, 3, 2..." Suddenly, the blue alien realised what was happening and ran out as the door blasted out by the explosion. The Doctor, Totter and the teenagers peered out cautiously and headed over to the door.

"What do you mean the Mona Lisa?" The Doctor asked.

"Come," The Groske said, leading them into the room containing the TARDIS at the back and two metal contraptions that were holding Sarah Jane and Jo moments before. "Smells like roast chicken."

The Doctor and Totter headed over to the coffin and pulled off the lid to find Sarah Jane and Jo inside it, alive and hugging.

"Now then, Smith and Jones." The Doctor said, watching Sarah Jane and Jo laugh. "The coffin was the trap, the coffin was the solution, that's so neat, I could write a thesis. Well, come on you two, out you get."

* * *

The TARDIS relanded inside the attic, the door opened and Clyde, Rani and Santiago stepped out.

"Whoa! It's Bannerman road!" Clyde exclaimed, looking round to find himself moved back home. "It's like everything moved. I'll never get used to that…"

"Mr. Smith!" Rani exclaimed. "You're in big trouble. Those Shansheeth were bad!"

"It transpires Rani that you encountered a rouge element and the Wide Wing of the High Shansheeth nest sends apologies." Mr Smith replied.

"No way!" Santiago exclaimed, looking at Mr Smith. "On top of everything else you've got a talking computer? That is it. I'm giving up."

* * *

"Still the same old TARDIS." Jo grinned, walking round the console as Sarah Jane watched her as well as The Doctor, hugging Totter from behind, repeatedly placing kisses on the back of her neck. He was worried for a second that explosion would get her. But it didn't and that was what mattered. "Doesn't matter what's changed. Still smells the same," She sniffed and grinned before turning to Sarah Jane, Totter and The Doctor. "Nope. Gotta say goodbye or else I'd stay with you forever. Besides I probably couldn't keep up anymore. Get you into trouble with the Time Lords."

Totter and Sarah Jane looked over sadly as The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, we probably better go…" The Doctor said. "You know me, stuff to do."

"It's daft though because we were both saying, we had this theory that if, you ever died you and The TARDIS even, we'd feel it somehow, we'd just know." Sarah Jane said, shaking her head. "That's just silly isn't it?"

"I don't know." Totter shrugged. "Maybe not, 'cos between you and me, if that day ever comes I think the whole Universe might just shiver." There was a long, silent pause.

"Boo!" The Doctor grinned. Sarah Jane and Jo smiled at him and walked out of The TARDIS before Sarah Jane's head popped back in the door suddenly.

"We both expect an invitation to the wedding." Sarah Jane laughed, before disappearing again.

"So," Totter said, wriggling out of The Doctor's grasp and bounding round the console, pulling a few levers. "What now?"

"Well..." The Doctor began, following round and wrapping his arms around her waist, her purple hair tickling the side of his face. "I was thinking, we could start thinking about the wedding. Seeing as Sarah Jane mentioned it."

"Amy will kill me if I start without her." Totter mumbled.

The Doctor laughed at that, placing a kiss to her cheek. "Well-" He began, only to be cut off by the sound of the phone ringing. Totter reached over and picked it up, placing the phone to her ear.

"Pond!" Totter exclaimed, grinning before her face suddenly dropped.

"What?" The Doctor whispered.

Totter pulled back the phone and looked up at The Doctor, "Their ship is crashing."

"Typical." The Doctor muttered, rolling his eyes.

**A/N - Ok, I know I told you guys this was the last chapter but someone reminded me about Death Of The Doctor so I had to write it! Next chapter is the last chapter, that being A Christmas Carol! And I've decided the name of the next story, so make sure to alert to it. The name of the second 'Insane Child Of The TARDIS' series will be called: To Marry A Type 40**

**Get it? Cause he's marrying Totter. And The TARDIS is a type 40 and... yep. Ok. **

**Anyway, enjoy! And review, your reviews make me smile so much and they make me really happy! **


	9. A Christmas Carol

**A/N - Wow sorry! I had storage trouble and I prewrote the whole next story and lost it all! This isn't my greatest chapter, sorry! But the new story (To Marry A Type 40) **_**has just been uploaded**_**, starting with a small chapter to start off with before we crack off with The Impossible Astronaut.**

**SO YEAH GO READ THE SEQUEL - To Marry A Type 40 **

"Are you sure this'll work?" Totter asked. The Doctor flew round the console, pulling levers as The TARDIS rocked violently through space. Totter, dressed in black jeans, black trainers and a red jumper with a reindeer face on, her hair pulled into a pony tail, tightened a small white strap with a blue button on round her wrist, grabbing onto the railing with her other hand.

"Of course it will! It connects straight to Amy and Rory's phones." The Doctor said, grabbing onto the scanner and looking over at her. "I'd feel it safer if you stayed with me, Tot."

Totter gave The Doctor a small glare, "Theta, I am _not _leaving my baby Ponds on there." The Doctor laughed, shaking his head at her pet name for their companions. "I'll be fine." She laughed, pulling her across the room and over to The Doctor, placing a small kiss on his lips. "I trust you to save the day." She pressed the button on the bracelet and dissappeared in a spark of electric and a puff of smoke.

...

Totter reappeared in a white corridor, stumbling as the ship shook. She yelped as she felt a pair of hands on her arms and span round to see Rory standing there, dressed in his roman armour.

"Why are you wearing that?" She yelped. Rory rolled his eyes, taking her hand and pulling her down the hallway, into the control room off the ship. They watched Amy, dressed in a police uniform, the captain and staff stare out the window, the ship thrashing in a dark cloud.

"What are you wearing that for?" Totter asked, moving around to Amy. Amy grinned, about to say something, before being cut off as the ship shuddered again.

"Sensor-loss on 80% of the hull..." One of the pilots called.

"Where's The Doctor?" Amy asked.

"He's going to sort it out, don't worry." Totter reassured him, squeezing Rory's hand and taking Amy's.

"Right, well, he is cutting it kind of fine!" Rory said sarcastically.

"If we can't stabilise the orbit, we're finished." The Captain panicked.

"There's nothing to lock onto. I am flying blind." A pilot gulped.

Amy stared out at the thrashing clouds, "Come on, Doctor, come on..." She whispered.

"There's something coming alongside us. Something small, like a shuttle."

"That's my mother!" Totter pouted.

"Just this once, don't be late." Amy muttered.

"Ma'am...incoming message." A pilot called. "It's from the other ship."

"On screen." The Captain ordered. Suddenly, **Come along, Pond **flashed across the screen and the TARDIS whizzed by. Rory and Amy looked at Totter, laughing in relief. "What does that mean?"

"It's Christmas!" Totter cheered.

...

"So, what's The Doctor doing?" Rory asked as she handed Totter the phone.

Totter fiddled with the phone, pulling up the silver aerial on the top, "Something clever." She muttered.

"Everything's offline!" A pilot called, as Totter pulled Amy back from falling as the ship shook again. "Secondary furnace just vented."

Totter held the phone up to her ear, "Have you got a plan yet?" She asked.

"Yes, I do." The Doctor replied.

"Are you lying?"

"Yes, I am."

"Don't treat me like an idiot." Totter said firmly, looking back at Rory, who was standing a little in front of Amy.

"Was he lying?" Rory asked.

"No, no." She reassured him as Amy shot her a look from behind her husband.

"OK, the good news." The Doctor continued as Totter turned away from her companions. "I've tracked the machine that unlocks the cloud belt. I could use it to clear you a flight corridor and you could land easily."

"Oh, hey, hey, that's great news." Totter smiled.

"But I can't control the machine."

"Less great."

"But I've met a man who can."

"Ah, well, there you go!"

"And he hates me."

"Were you being extra charming and clever?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

Totter frowned, her innoence shining through, "I guess it must only work on me."

The Doctor laughed softly before someone mumbled something in the background, "Hang on."

"Ok." Totter whispered.

The Captain turned back to Totter, Amy and Rory, looking stressed, "We've got less than an hour." She called over.

"Doctor," Totter sighed into the phone. "The Captain says we've got less than an hour... What should we be doing?"

"Fish...!" The Doctor gasped childlishly.

Totter giggled, shaking her head, "What about them?" She gasped suddenly. "Can we get a fish?! Or a _shark_?" She turned to Rory and Amy. "We're going to get a shark in the TARDIS!" Rory and Amy raised an eyebrow at them before sharing a look.

"Fish that can swim in fog. I love new planets."

"Doctor, please don't get distracted!" Amy shouted over, trying to get The Doctor to hear her.

"Now, why would people be frightened of you tiny little fellas? Look at you, sweet little fishy-wishies. Mind you, fish in the fog, so the cloud cover... Ooh. Careful up there."

Totter giggled even more, "What?"

Amy stormed over, yanking the phone out of Totter's hand and holding it up to her ear, "Oh, great, thanks, Doctor, because there was a real danger we were all going to nod off!" Amy snapped. "We've got less than an hour!"

"I know." The Doctor replied.

"Doctor? How are you getting us off here?"

"Oh, just give me a minute!" He said, beginning to mumble to himself. Amy frowned, pressing the phone tighter to her ear, trying to hear.

"Doctor, I can't hear you." Amy sighed. "What is that? Is that singing?"

"A Christmas carol."

"A what?"

"A Christmas carol."

"A what?" She pressed the phone tighter to her ear.

"A CHRISTMAS CAROL!"

"Doctor!" She frowned, pulling the phone away and groaning, throwing it back to Totter.

Totter put it back to her ear with an innocent smile.

"Kazran Sardick!" The Doctor cheered.

"Doctor?" Totter asked before the call cut off. Totter frowned, glancing at the phone before smiling at Amy and Rory. "He's figuring something out, I know him."

...

"Totter." Amy said. Totter peered up from under the ship's console, fiddling with wires whilst the pilots, captain and Rory watched her cautiously from the sides of the room. Totter looked up suddenly, staring into space. "What's wrong?" She asked softly, noticing her friend looking hurt.

"He's engaged." Totter whispered, looking up at Amy.

"Yeah," Amy laughed slightly. "To _you_."

"No." She glared, looking back at the wires, turning away. "To Marilyn Monroe." She said sharply.

Amy frowned, never seeing Totter so angry, and taking a step away. Totter tightened up a few more wires and stood up, moving over to a pad in the middle of the room. With a flash, a hologram flickered around them, showing her standing in Kazran's living room, in front of him. "Hello." Totter said dryly, glaring at Kazran.

"Who are you?" Kazran snapped at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't think this was over, did you?" She asked angrily as The Doctor watched, shocked. His innocent Totter was fuming! "I'm the Ghost of Christmas Present."

"A ghost? Dressed like that?" He frowned, eyeing her jumper.

Suddenly, Rory pushed her out of the way, "Leave her alone!" He snapped before Totter pushed him back out of the way, reappearing in front of Kazran.

"You turned into a Roman. "

"Yeah. I do that." Totter spat. "I also do this." She suddenly dissappeared and Kazran looked around, confused.

"Do what? What are you talking about?" Kazran mumbled nervously, staring round as he heard voicees begin to sing Silent Night. He quickly followed the sound down to the vault. He peered through the window on the door to see a number of people singing. He keyed a code into the door and stepped into the cyro-chamber storage vault, stepping in. He stared, stunned, when Totter reappeared.

"They're holograms." Totter said sternly. "Projections, like me. "

"Who are they?"

"The people on the ship up there. The ones you're going to let die tonight."

"Why are they singing?"

"For their _lives_." Totter said, a tear dropping down her cheek. She felt a shiver run down her spine, that feeling of love but darkness which she'd never felt before. She had always been that innocent girl, the anomaly, a woman who had perged from the last type 40 TARDIS. But now she was hurting, a sense of loss. She was losing her fiancee to Marilyn Monroe, she was losing the Ponds to this bloody idiot who wouldn't let the ship land. The Doctor had always been the Oncoming Storm... and she'd become his calming wind. But not now. Now, she was just as dangerous as the famous Doctor and his TARDIS. "Which one's Abigail? The Doctor told me."

"Did he now?"

"He doesn't hold back. You know the Doctor."

"How do I? I never met him before tonight. Now I seem to have known him all my life. How? Why?"

"_You're_ the only person who can let that ship land." Totter spat. "He was trying to turn you into a nicer person. And he was trying to do it nicely."

"He's changed my past. My whole life!"

"Time can be rewritten."

"You tell the Doctor, tell him from me, people can't."

Kazran came striding forward, breaking through the holograms and stopping in front of Abigail's container. Totter turned, walking over to Kazran and stopping next to him, peering in at Abigail.

"Oh yes he can." Totter said sternly, glaring at Kazran in the corner of her eye before turning back to the container. "That's Abigail?"

"I would never have known her if the Doctor hadn't changed the course of my whole life to suit himself." Kazran mumbled, staring at the blonde woman in the cyro-chamber.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?"

"No."

Totter frowned, reaching out to the container, only for the holgram to go straight through, "She is, isn't she?" Kazran glanced at her sadly. "She's dying.

Kazran looked back at Abigail darkly, "This is what the Doctor did to me. Abigail was ill when she went into the ice. On the point of death. I suppose the rest in the ice helped her, but she's used up her time. All those Christmas Eves with me. I could release her any time I want... and she would live a single day." He turned away from the container to Totter. "So tell me, Ghost of Christmas Present, how do I choose which day?"

"I'm sorry. I really am. I'm very, very sorry." Totter said genuinely. "But you know what? She's got more time left than I have. More than anyone on this ship."

"Good."

"Rory," Totter called over her shoulder. "Widen the beam."

The room flickered out of existence and Kazran stood, finding himself being a hologram on the ship, standing in front of Amy, Rory and Totter as the rest of the ship's crew hurried round.

"Update on engine one..." The Captain called.

"How did I get here?" Kazran asked, looking around.

"You didn't." Amy said. "It's your turn to be the hologram. Since you're going to let a lot of people die, I thought you might like to see where it's all gonna happen."

"The singing... What is it? I don't understand."

"The Doctor's idea." Rory said, placing his hand on Totter's shoulder. "The harmonies resonate in the ice crystals. The fish like it. He thought maybe it would stabilise the ship. But it isn't working. It's not powerful enough."

"Why are they still singing, then?"

"Because we haven't told them." The Captain said, glancing over at him. "I understand you have a machine that controls this cloud layer. If you can release us from it, we still have time to make a landing. Nobody has to die."

"Everybody has to die."

"Not _tonight_." Totter said.

"Tonight's as good as any other. How do you choose?"

Amy held the phone up to her ear, "Doctor?" She asked.

"Yeah?" The Doctor replied.

"Are you hearing this?"

"I can hear."

"He's here?" Kazran asked desperatley. "Where is he? Doctor?!"

Rory leaned over, pressing a button and turning off the hologram.

...

"Structural integrity at 30%!" A pilot cried as the ship shook. Totter stood in between the pilot and the Captain, Rory and Amy above her, all of them holding on for dear life.

"We have five minutes max." The Captain gulped. "We need to land!"

Static suddenly filled the screen before an image of The Doctor appeared, "Hello, hello! Ah, hello, everyone." He said as Totter stared at him on the screen sadly. "Prepare to lock on to my signal."

"Doctor, what's happening?" Amy asked.

"I just saved Christmas. Don't go away." Suddenly, the screen switched off.

"Doctor? Doctor!"

"We can't hold this." Totter gulped, looking back at Rory and Amy. "Time's up, we're going down." She ran up to the above deck as Rory pulled her and Amy into a hug.

A soft singing flowed through one of the small computer screens, "Captain, I've got..." One of the pilot's began, frowning. "I don't know what I've got." She switched it onto speaker and Abigail's soft singing filled the room.

"What are you listening to?" The Captain asked.

"This is coming from outside. This is coming from the clouds."

Another pilot stepped back from the control with a look of shock. She turned back to Totter, "We're flying normally."

"Can you land?" Totter and The Captain asked in unison.

The pilot nodded, turning back to the controls, "I can even land well."

Rory and Amy hugged quickly, "Oh, he did it. The Doctor did it." Amy laughed.

"Yeah, he gets all the credit." Rory said. "Which is actually fair enough, if you think about it." They turned to each other, sharing a kiss. Totter looked up at them with a small smile, knowing full well that watching Amy and Rory's relationship made her realise one thing. If she ever saw Marilyn Monroe... she would punch her.

...

Totter, Amy and Rory walked through the snow, watching The Doctor in the distance rub noses with a snow man.

"You know, that could almost be mistaken for a real person." Totter called over. "The snowman isn't bad, either."

The Doctor looked up at the three of them, smiling. "Ah, yes, you three!" He grinned. "About time!" He eyed Rory and Amy's clothing. "Why are you dressed like that?"

"Ah, kind of lost our luggage." Rory said. "Kind of crash landed."

"Yeah, but _why_ are you dressed like that at all?" Totter asked innocently, looking back at the Ponds, realising they hadn't answered her when she asked them earlier.

"They really love their snowmen around here." Amy said quickly, looking round at all the snowmen. "I've counted about 20."

"Yeah, I've been busy." The Doctor grinned.

"Yeah, yeah, you have." She grinned, hugging The Doctor. "Thank you."

"Pleasure." The Doctor replied, pulling away and smiling at the three of them. "Right, come on, then, let's go!" He took Totter's hand and they headed towards The TARDIS.

"Got any more honeymoon ideas?" Rory asked.

"There's a moon that's made of actual honey." Totter said. "Well, not actual honey. And it's not actually a moon. And technically, it's alive and a bit carnivorous, but there are some lovely views." The Doctor smiled at her, placing a kiss on her forehead, and unlocked the TARDIS.

"Yeah, great, thanks." Rory nodded, pushing past them and stepping into the TARDIS.

"Are you OK?" Amy asked.

"Course I'm OK." The Doctor nodded. "You?"

"Of course." She glanced over at Kazran and Abigail in the distance. "It'll be their last day together, won't it?"

"Everything has to end some time, otherwise nothing would ever get started."

Rory opened the door and stepped out, "Your phone was ringing. Someone called Marilyn. Actually sounds like THE Marilyn." Totter stiffened, glaring inside The TARDIS.

"Doctor?" Amy frowned.

"Tell her I'll phone her back." The Doctor said quickly. "And that was never a real chapel."

"Right!" Totter exclaimed, yanking her hand away from the Doctor and rolling up her sleeves. "Marilyn Monroe." She pushed past Rory and into the TARDIS.

...

The Doctor sat on the jump seat, watching Totter silently walk round the console, flicking switches and fixing things as she went.

"Totts." He called softly, his jaw clenched as he crossed his legs, his hands wrapped together. Totter ignored him, pulling the scanner round and looking up at it. "Totter." He said, more sharply. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen anyone speak to to Marilyn like that. Let alone swear at her in Gallifreyan." Totter glanced over at him, pulling her hair out of it's ponytail and walking over to him. The Doctor uncrossed his legs, pulling her onto his lap. With a sigh Totter settled into his lap, laying her head against his chest as The Doctor leant back.

"I just..." She began with a sigh as The Doctor kissed her on the head.

"You've always been so innocent." The Doctor laughed. "Look at you, getting angry."

"I couldn't let the universe lose you to Marilyn Monroe."

The Doctor moved her round on his lap, looking at her in shock, "And what about you? Didn't you think about if you lost me?"

"Well that doesn't matter." Totter blinked. "I'm just an anomaly. I don't deserve needs."

The Doctor crushed his lips against hers, holding her tightly. He pulled away and stared at her. "You are _never _that. Never."

Totter smiled at him feebly, unbelieving, "You sure about that?"

"Will you marry me?" He laughed.

"Sure." She nodded, hugging him tightly.


End file.
